CHILE: Thousands march against Chilean president

Record ID: 339224

  • Title: CHILE: Thousands march against Chilean president
  • Date: 26th August 2011
  • Summary: SANTIAGO, CHILE (AUGUST 25, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THOUSANDS OF PROTESTERS CARRYING FLAGS AND HOLDING BANNERS AND MARCHING PROTESTER HOLDING SIGN READING: CHILE'S HAPPINESS DEPENDS ON ITS CHILDREN PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNER THAT READS: 'TURN OFF THE TV AND TURN ON THE PC. THE TV LIES AND DOESN'T LET YOU SEE' (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER, SAYING: "T
  • Embargoed: 10th September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Chile, Chile
  • Country: Chile
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6SGB7TA22KF99N6G1RI0DNID6
  • Story Text: With drums and costumes, an estimated 500,000 people marched through the streets of the Chilean capital on Thursday (August 25) against President Sebastian Pinera.
    It is the second day of a 48-hour strike that has been marked by sporadic looting and clashes.
    Most of the crowd was there to march peacefully however.
    Led by students demanding free education, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in recent months to call for greater distribution of the spoils of a copper price boom in the world's top producer of the metal.
    This strike was called by Chile's main umbrella labor union CUT.
    "There is great participation by workers. We appreciate the students' participation with us just as we are with them in this mobilization. These movements are complimentary: the citizenry is expressing itself," one unidentified protester said.
    While Latin America's model economy is expanding many ordinary Chileans feel they are not sharing in Chile's economic miracle.
    Anger has been directed at the country's billionaire president, who some demonstrators portrayed in posters as the devil.
    Previous governments have faced one-day national strikes, but this is the first 48-hour national strike since the 1973-1990 Augusto Pinochet dictatorship.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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