#whatshappeninginchile

Anti-gov’t protests expected to continue, with demonstrators calling for Pinera’s resignation and a new constitution. 

By Naomi Larsson, October 27th, 2019

A demonstrator runs next to a police armoured vehicle during a protest against Chile’s state economic model in Santiago, Chile [Henry Romero/Reuters]

Santiago - Chile’s state of emergency will end at midnight on Sunday, the president’s office has confirmed, after more than a week of military forces on the streets and widespread unrest across the country.

President Sebastian Pinera’s office released a statement earlier on Sunday, announcing the state of emergency, which saw more than 20,000 soldiers and police deployed on Chile’s streets, would end “in all the regions and towns where it was established” in a bid to “restore institutional normality”.

The statement comes a day after the military lifted curfews in Chile’s main cities and the president announced plans for a major cabinet reshuffle in a desperate attempt to quell furious protests over inequality and calls for political and economic change.

“We are in a new reality. Chile is different from what it was a week ago,” Pinera said following a historic demonstration on Friday that saw more than one million people protest against his government in Santiago.

Sunday’s short statement came as tens of thousands of people marched to the Congress building in Valparaiso, a hugely symbolic protest in Chile’s coastal city. Meanwhile, various protest concerts with famous Chilean artists attracted thousands across Santiago.

With many more demonstrations planned for this week, Pinera’s reforms have done little to answer the rallying cries for systemic change. Posters and graffiti across the capital call for the president’s resignation, but many Chileans are now also demanding a new political constitution, which remains a legacy of Chile’s military dictatorship.

Approval rating at new low

A national survey, published on Sunday by pollster and national research institute Cadem, found 80 percent of Chileans did not think the reforms were enough. Support for Pinera had dropped to 14 percent, the lowest approval rating for a president since the country’s return to democracy in 1990, the poll found.  

“We can’t stop now,” said 61-year-old Hector Parrera, who attended a free concert for “the right to live in peace” in Santiago. “I don’t know if the resignation of Pinera will do anything, because we need to change this whole system. We have to change this constitution of [Augusto] Pinochet.”

Demonstrators march with flags and placards during a protest against Chile’s state economic model in Santiago, Chile [Ivan Alvarado/Reuters]

UN investigators to arrive on Monday

The state of emergency was first introduced in Santiago in the early hours of October 19 following vandalism and violent clashes with police after a protest against a rise in metro fares escalated into a wider unrest. Chileans have since united against the high cost of education and healthcare, low pensions, stagnant wages, and the cost of living in one of Latin America’s most unequal countries.

As protests spread throughout the week, so did the state of emergency, bringing military and armoured vehicles back to Chile’s streets as an ominous reminder of the country’s 17-year dictatorship.

Established by Pinochet’s constitution, the state of emergency granted the government additional powers to restrict freedom of movement and right to assembly.

Police officers detain a demonstrator during a protest against Chile’s state economic model in Santiago, Chile [Henry Romero/Chile] 

The INDH’s chief said in an interview with CNN Chile that what “worries us most” are the allegations of torture and sexual violence.

Ravina Shamdasani, the spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the organisation had received allegations of violations of international standards “relating to the use of force by state security forces” and crimes committed by third parties.  

“We have been closely monitoring the mounting crisis in Chile, including reports of human rights violations and abuses in the context of the recent protests and the declaration of a state of emergency,” she said.

The human rights team plans to spend a month in Chile investigating the allegations.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

By: BBC News Mundo, October 27th, 2019

With flags, with banners, with pans.

Dozens of people in different parts of the world - not only in the capitals - have expressed their solidarity with the protests that have been repeated in Chile for a week

On Friday, more than 1.2 million people concentrated on Plaza Italia, a nerve center in Santiago, to demand reforms from Sebastián Piñera’s government and call for an end to the deep inequalities of Chilean society.

Convened in social networks as “the largest march in Chile”, it is estimated that Friday was the most massive since the return of democracy to Chile.

But in other cities in both Europe and Latin America the marches have also dyed colors and emotions over the weekend.

In BBC Mundo we show you how they have seen in some cities

In Latin America

Latin America was one of the first regions where the Chilean community took to the streets to join in solidarity with the demonstrations in Chile.

From Argentina to Caracas, dozens of Chileans asked for changes in their country to be palpable.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tijuana, Mexico

In many of the countries, the protests were organized in front of the embassies and consulates of Chile, but the protests not only took the capitals and streets of different cities filled with banners and social justice claims for Chile

San José, Costa Rica

Sao Pablo, Brazil

Caracas, Venezuela

In Europe
The Chilean community in several cities in Europe also met in solidarity with the thousands of people protesting in their home countries.

Cambridge, United Kindom

World Music Expo, Tempere, Finland

From Bristol to Amsterdam or Malaga the protests took several cities of the “Old Continent”.

“Chile may seem like a distant country, but today’s uprising is the result of decades of neoliberal policies that produce and reproduce outrageous inequality,” he said in a statement signed by Chilean students, academics and workers in Bristol, UK.

Bristol, United Kingdom

Budapest, Hungary

París, France

301/5000Protests began last week when the government announced an increase in the price of the subway ticket.

After declaring the state of emergency and curfew in several regions of the country, Piñera backed down and canceled this measure, decision, but that did not result in the end of the protests.

Málaga, Spain

On Saturday, the Army announced that the curfew was lifted in the capital and other cities of the country.

Piñera also announced, during an address from Casa de la Moneda, that he had asked his ministers to make their “positions available.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Barcelona, Spain

The president will try to form a new government to placate the mass protests.

The riots have so far left 19 dead and hundreds injured.

Source:BBC.com