(Bloomberg) -- Thousands began demonstrations in Santiago’s plazas and major thoroughfares in a seventh day of protests that have rocked Chile. Elsewhere in the city, a semblance of normality returned as more stores and schools opened their doors.
The capital and other major cities are counting the cost of the worst civil unrest since Chile returned to democracy as people push for better pay, pensions, healthcare, education and social justice. Television images showed the full extent of damage from subway riots that triggered the protests, while cases of looting were still being reported overnight.
Operations at copper mines and major ports continue to be disrupted by strikes, as workers joined public sector, health and teachers’ unions demanding the army be sent back to its barracks. Markets were mixed, with the benchmark stock index gaining and the peso weakening.
President Sebastian Pinera’s government is touting the measures it announced Tuesday in a bid to quell the unrest, such as raising taxes for high income earners, lifting basic pensions and stabilizing power prices. For many of the protesters, though, the measures fall short and need to be preceded with a withdrawal of troops and cabinet changes.
“We need better everything, but especially better healthcare,” said Liz Castro, who was banging a pot on the streets of Pedro Aguirre Cerda, one of Santiago’s poorest neighborhoods, on Wednesday evening. Pinera’s announcements “were worth nothing,” she said. “In our medical centers here there are no doctors, no equipment and no medicine.”
The government has reported 18 deaths and thousands of arrests, although the rate of serious violent events has slowed. Chile’s human rights institute says five died in clashes with police or soldiers.
The government initially tackled the violence as a law-and-order matter, an approach that only made things worse. On Tuesday, Pinera apologized for having failed to recognize the genuine grievances behind the protests.
Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, now the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she would send a team to look into allegations of human-rights violations in the country, a move the government welcomed.
In a survey by pollster Ipsos, 67% of respondents said the reason the protests started is because “people are tired of their living conditions when it comes to the economy, health and pensions, as they are perceived as unfair and unjust.”
--With assistance from Maria Jose Campano and Eduardo Thomson.
To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Millan Lombrana in Santiago at lmillan4@bloomberg.net;Sebastian Boyd in Santiago at sboyd9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, James Attwood
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