(Bloomberg) -- Thousands of Chileans marched in downtown Santiago and other major cities to mark the second anniversary of the start of social unrest that shocked investors and political elites in the South American nation.

Most people protested peacefully Monday, while some set barricades on fire, broke traffic lights and forced subway stations to close, according to TV images. A fast-food restaurant was ransacked in downtown Santiago.

On Oct. 18, 2019, protests against an increase in subway fares ballooned into a broader movement. Over the subsequent weeks, millions of people took to the streets to demand better public services such as healthcare and education, as well as the ouster of billionaire President Sebastian Pinera. 

Social tensions are running high again as one of Latin America’s richest nations nears the Nov. 21 first round of presidential elections. The leading contenders are a former student protest leader who has vowed to heed demands for more equality and, on the other hand, a conservative who has pledged law and order. At stake are the rules that have turned Chile into an investor favorite.

Read more: Chile’s Conservative Presidential Candidate Rises in Polls 

New Charter

In 2019, Pinera initially responded by calling in troops to restore order as protests turned violent, leaving looted stores, burned subway stations and over 30 deaths. He later agreed to a referendum that rejected the constitution dating from the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship and paved the way for a new charter.

Leading leftist presidential candidate Gabriel Boric said it’s been two years since Chileans “got fed up with abuses and opened to a process of change,” according to a message on Twitter Monday. 

Jose Antonio Kast, the right-wing presidential contender who’s risen sharply in polls, struck a different tone, saying on his Twitter that there’s nothing to celebrate. “Two years after the criminal uprising, we dare to say ‘enough’ to violence that infuses terror, and to say that we want to live in peace.”

Today the Constitutional Assembly, elected in May, began the process of debating the content of the country’s new charter.

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