Protesters ready to resume social movement

Audio 01:17

Text by: Justine Fontaine Follow

A series of protests broke out in many neighborhoods in the main cities of Chile on Friday evening. In the suburbs of Santiago, fiery barricades were erected at various crossroads, and the inhabitants participated in casserole concerts. Objective: express their dissatisfaction with the way the government has managed the coronavirus pandemic and its economic and social consequences. With more than 9,000 dead, Chile is proportionally one of the Latin American countries most affected by Covid-19, and its inhabitants are asking for more social assistance to cope with the crisis.

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From our correspondent in Santiago,

On the front lines during the protests launched in Chile last October against social inequalities, Layne, in his twenties, again came out to protest against government policy on Friday evening, in the suburbs of Santiago. "  Yes, it was quite agitated, " he said, " people protested in several districts of my commune, with concerts of pots and pans, barricades . "

Rosa Cornejo, 63-year-old esthetician, found herself out of work due to the health crisis, and impatiently await the end of the pandemic before returning to demonstrate: "  I think people are even more angry than before, because they lost their jobs ... And there will be a new social explosion, I am sure.  "

A conviction shared by Ramiro Valdés, president of a neighborhood association, which distributes 400 meals a day to the inhabitants of a poor commune in the suburbs of Santiago. He says he is ready to resume the social movement. "  As an association leader, I believe that we must claim the rights of all, and for example the right to change the Constitution of 1980,  " he explains.

A Constitution adopted under General Pinochet's dictatorship, and still in force today. A referendum is scheduled for October 25, to ask the Chileans whether or not they wish to draft a new text to replace it.

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