Protests in Chile that began earlier this month over a subway fare hike have escalated into demonstrations against vast economic inequality in the country.
Violent clashes between police and protesters have resulted in at least 18 deaths, according to CNN.
- Watch Jason Carr's report above.
Here are the key points:
The subway fare hike
- Protests began after the Chilean government on Oct. 6 announced a subway fare hike of 4%.
- The average monthly salary in Chile is $807.
- With the fare hike, a rush-hour subway ride would cost about $1.20.
- Bus fares were also affected.
- The fare hike was a tipping point after years of “rising cost of living, miserable pensions, relatively low wages, deficient health and education systems and costly and inefficient public utilities,” reports the New York Times .
- Students in Chile’s capital, Santiago, began protesting the fare hike by flooding subway stations, jumping turnstiles, dodging fares and vandalizing stations.
- The demonstrations quickly escalated with students setting up barricades and fires at the entrances to stations.
- By Oct. 18, subway service in Santiago had been suspended.
- On Saturday, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera suspended the fare hike.
Protests escalate
- Despite the subway fare hike being suspended, demonstrations continued and grew increasingly violent over the past week .
- The violence has led to at least 18 deaths.
- Police have responded to demonstrators by firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons.
- The United Nations human rights council plans to send officials to investigate allegations of rights abuses.
- Several cities throughout the country were placed under a state of emergency.
- The government deployed the military to put down the unrest—the first time since Pinochet’s 17-year military dictatorship ended in 1990.
- In a national televised address Tuesday night, Piñera apologized for decades of accumulated problems and announced a new social and economic agenda.
- " It's true -- problems have not occurred in recent days. They have been accumulating for decades, " he said.
- The president promised measure including pension raises, affordable medical insurance, lower prices for medicine, and stabilized electricity prices.
- The president’s address did little to calm the demonstrations.
A single grievance sent protesters to the streets... [article]
- In areas across the globe, demonstrators have taken to the streets in persistent movements to express a wide disapproval of leadership.
- The demonstrations seemingly began with a single spark:
- Experts say we are seeing a tipping point of ordinary people fed up with measures imposed from above by a ruling class.
- Governments have made concessions in response to protests, but these concessions have not stopped demonstrations.
- The fare hikes in Chile were suspended.
- Lebanon dropped the WhatsApp tax within hours of protests starting.
- Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam withdrew the extradition bill in September.
- Demonstrators in Chile are continuing to call for wider economic reform. The country has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the world.
- Lebanese protesters are taking aim at what they see as decades of crony capitalism that has led to a rapidly declining economy.
- Hong Kongers continue to protest China’s perceived encroachment on the democratic freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kongers , but not by people on the Chinese mainland.