STUDENT PROTEST en Chile

[Chris Brady <cdbrady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

VIOLENCE FLARES DURING STUDENT PROTEST

Santiago Times, 6 June 2003
http://test.chirongroup.com/splash/stimes/chiparticle.php3?story_id=1962

 University students protesting a shortfall in government funds for
student loans clashed with police Thursday afternoon, just one block
from the Moneda presidential palace in Santiago city center.

Around 2,000 students joined the protest, which was heading towards
President Ricardo Lagos's workplace when the violence broke out.
Approximately 50 Carabineros (police) blocked the progress of the
student march, preventing protestors from delivering a letter to the
Chilean head-of-state.

The police cited the lack of official permission to enter the government
area as the reason for halting the advance of the university
undergraduates.

Dozens of students then threw stones and paint, according to the daily
El Mercurio, which prompted the police to mobilize water cannons to
disperse the agitators. Teargas was also used.

Although the protestors said they would refuse to move until they were
allowed to hand over their letter to the president, the police were said
to have the situation under control shortly afterwards. Twenty arrests
were reported.

There was some evidence of damaged private property near the scene of
the conflict, especially along Teatinos Avenue, which skirts the Moneda.

In other parts of the country, 39 protestors were detained in Arica in
the far north as students from the University of Tarapacá attempted to
force entry to the local government building.

A little further south in Iquique, students occupied the office of the
Regional Ministerial Secretary of Justice, before beginning a march to
the center of the capital of Chile's Region I. As well as protesting
over funds, the marchers demanded the release of a sociologist who has
been held since the end of April after a protest involving the use of
Molotov cocktails.

In Talca, the President of the Talca University Federation of Students
was arrested, while in Concepción, protests were carried out without
arrests. Meanwhile in the Region IX city of Valdivia, students took
police by surprise when they occupied the town hall.

SOURCE: emol.com, EL MOSTRADOR  By: Jolyon Attwooll
(reporter@xxxxxxxxxxxx)