Riots in Chile

The start of the riots for me started on October 19^th (2019). That was the day I visited the Paranal Observatory, on my return there were riots kicking off in Antofagasta after they had started in Santiago (the capital) a few days earlier. 

  

The riots started after a rise in metro (underground for Brits!) prices, it was a rise of 30 Chilean pesos (which is around 3 pence in U.K money). Some students had jumped over the gates to avoid paying altogether. This was the start of the months of protests in Chile.

These months of riots are not because of the rise in price to the metro but because of the unjust system they have in Chile. There have been many small protests for years and years but the price rise was the straw that broke the camel’s back…as we say! 

The main slogan for these protests is ‘dignity’… they are protesting for equal rights and to bridge the gap between rich and poor. Chile is one of the top countries in Lantin America that has a high GDP but its gap between the wealthy and the underprivileged is one of the highest. The protests are also about health, education, the pension system and to change the constitution that was made in the dictatorship in the 1980’s.

From the month of October 2019 to the start of lockdown for COVID (April 2020 – well even the lockdown didn’t stop everyone!) there were riots all the time and very big protests every Friday. 

In Antofagasta there were many protests every day to start with. Many fires being set off in the streets, buildings looted and burnt down. We were at school one day and they had to send us home early due to a lot of fires surrounding the school which caused many roads to be blocked. That day the buses stopped running but lucky for me Joaquin wasn’t working and managed to come and collect me on the motorbike. We went passed a few burning barricades on the way home.

Due to riots, curfew has been enforced from 10pm to 6am. The times have changed slightly but we have been on curfew since the riots (October 2019) and it continued through the Pandemic too – so we are now still living with curfews (writing this in January 2021). 

School was closed for a few weeks and then it got extended for a little while longer. I was able to keep working on my projects from home but trips to the supermarkets were an adventure.

Another way people were protesting was to hit pots and pans either on the marches or during curfew from your garden, balcony or windows.

Once things had calmed down a little during the day, life started returning to normal but you never left the house without a mask (well I didn’t anyway). This was because of the teargas used, the police would use it all the time to disperse the crowds but it didn’t usually work as they kept fighting. Even the teargas was around the next day in the street and when driving pass or walking out you would still feel the effects from the gas - coughing, getting a sore throat and eyes watering!

 

One evening I was out for a walk when I stumbled upon a protest. One afternoon many people joined together to walk the length of the city. People started off in the south and walked for around 3 to 4 hours on the main road along the cost to the north. We started to walk back home among the protest. At the traffic lights the people were stopping the cars and making people get out to jump with them before letting them pass.

Some of the lines that the protesters shout:

El que no salta es paco – The one who doesn’t jump is a cop

Renuncia Piñera – Piñera quit (this is the president of Chile)

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido -The people united will never be defeated

 

In Santiago there is a place called Plaza Italia, this has been the centre of the protests and has been renamed to Plaza de la Dignidad (Dignity Square) this is where on March 8^th 2020 where more then 2 million people gathered to protest.

There is also a square in Antofagasta called Plaza Sotomayor which has also been renamed and is now known as Plaza de la revolucion (Revolution Square). This is where a lot of protests start and finish.

One day there was a motorbike protest which Joaquin wanted to join in with, so we went on a nice ride with at least 50 other bikers and rode down the coast, we entered the square to join with protesters for a little while before continuing to the south of the city centre and then had a lovely drive back home.

One of the scariest times was when Joaquin and I had to go into the city centre for him to do some paperwork. We took the opportunity to take a bike ride into the city for a bit of exercise. This is when I experienced first-hand the front line of the protest. We had to travel near to the square where protestors were gathering, it was peaceful and a band was playing music, then on the next road down there were police throwing teargas and shooting rubber bullets and protestors throwing rocks and setting of fires. The front line are the ones who stop the cops from dispersing the peaceful protesters.

One day in Santiago the protests were so close to the Coin Palace (where the government work) that the Senit gathered to agree on a change in the constitution voted by the people in a bid to stop the rioting. The people voted in October 2020 on this matter and 78% approved to have a new constitution. Due to the pandemic protests have decreased as we are under many strict rules and quarantine, but I do believe that when the pandemic is under more control then protests will start up again and continue.