Chileans take to streets in anger at regime

· Hundreds arrested in clashes with police
· Economic inequality at heart of protest in capital

Jonathan Franklin in Santiago and agencies
Thursday August 30, 2007
The Guardian

Thousands of Chileans took to the streets yesterday in a burgeoning middle class revolt against the 17 years of coalition government that has ruled since the fall of Augusto Pinochet in 1990.

Hundreds of Chileans were arrested as they approached the presidential palace. Squares in and around the palace became a chaotic mix of mounted police, riot troops and teargas. As water cannons blasted protesters, waves of students counterattacked with rocks. Burning barricades almost closed central Santiago.

Television images showed senator Alejandro Navarro, of President Michelle Bachelet's Socialist party, bleeding from the back of his head after apparently being clubbed by a police officer. The deputy interior minister, Felipe Harboe, said the incident would be investigated. Mr Navarro, who was treated in hospital, supported the protest.

"This protest will start to change things. There will be one after another," said Arturo Martinez, of United Workers Central, the trade union that organised the protest. The union is tapping into widespread anger at economic inequality in Chilean society. As riot police and ruling party politicians tried to play down the protests, the capital was filled by protesters demanding higher pensions, better public transport, subsidised housing and a halt to rising food and electricity prices.

President Bachelet initially defended her record as a progressive politician, then conceded and promised "subsidies to all" families in need and a "short-term solution" for economic inequality. "Nobody can say that my government's programmes are not fair and equitable. I will not accept questioning of my work on social justice," she said. "The solutions to these inequalities and the goal of a more equitable Chile are obtained with dialogue, maturity, work and agreements. Through this process there will be discord, but also common understanding."

While government officials tried to ignore the protests, union leaders such as Mr Martinez threatened to lay siege to Santiago by shutting down major avenues and roads leading into the city.

Throughout the day, protesters repeatedly attempted to approach the presidential palace, which late on Tuesday was briefly occupied by low-income housing residents who stormed the building. At least 30 members managed to scale the iron window grates, dangling from the palace screaming anti-government slogans.

Yesterday's protest comes after weeks of labour action, including strikes by poultry workers in southern Chile and copper miners in the north. Union leaders called the demonstrations to protest against the government's "neo-liberal" economic policies and to further the national debate about the country's minimum wage.

Salaries for workers have been at the forefront of public debate after recent statements by Bishop Alejandro Goic calling for "an ethical [minimum] wage" for Chilean workers.