Chile: Students' Uprising....

Special Edition...iReports CNNBy: Bernardus G. Stroomer Janssen DuighuizenPhotos by me...Santiago, Chile.November, 2011.

Temperature rising: The Chilean Winter has become the Chilean Spring...

& may yet become The Chilean Summer... The students have been demanding for months now an end to the educational legacy of the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet...& polls have indicated that 70% of the population backs the students’ demands. Student protests turn violent (again)  in Santiago...Chile's student protests are now in their sixth month. The students recently voted to extend their protests, rejecting negotiations with  President Piñera... 1000's of students descended today in the downtown area of  Santiago for their 40th massive protest march since May & were backed by teachers and the trade unions. When 100's of masked demonstrators began throwing stones & homemade firebombs... the Chilean police answered with tear gas and water cannons. There have been a total of 5,658 recorded protests nationwide to-date in 2011...

The government remains unsure how to respond.

The ongoing student demonstrations began as a protest over the costs and fairness of higher education.They have since attracted other segments of Chilean society  expressing frustration over wages, health care, and other issues...Changes in the education system are still unsettled... the student protests are continuing. Students have indicated their willingness to repeat the academic year if necessary due to the lengthy amount of time lost.

There is a widely-held view that maintaining the struggle is of far greater importance than missing a year of study... More than 150.000 people was the estimate of the turn-out at today's demonstration.

The government likes to think “that all is still well”....Banging on pots started during the dictorship as a way to demonstrate... and has become a tradition. Pot-banging was heard last night in several districts of Santiago and in many regions of Chile....Thursday night many citizens continued to demonstrate their discontment....and also to celebrate the conclusion of the 48 hour strike.Images taken with my phone...

 ¡ Viva Chile mierda !