Chile: Santiago reopens last metro stations damaged during social movement

After 11 months of closure, the last two metro stations in Santiago damaged during the demonstrations that turned into a riot last October will reopen this Friday, September 25, 2020. MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP

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The last two metro stations in the Chilean capital, damaged during the demonstrations which turned into a riot last October, will reopen this Friday, September 25, after 11 months of closure.

The mobilization had started against the rise in the price of public transport and according to the authorities, a total of a hundred metro stations had been vandalized or set on fire during the first days of the social movement.

The repair work cost nearly $ 250 million.

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With our correspondent in Santiago

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118 out of 136 stations in the Santiago region were vandalized to varying degrees during the early days of

.

Demonstrations launched by high school students, who opened the metro doors and made the turnstiles out of order, to let passengers pass without paying.

A mobilization in reaction to the increase in the price of transport, very expensive in the capital compared to the incomes of Chileans.

In the hours and days that followed, some stations suffered extensive damage, were set on fire and electrical installations were even sabotaged.

Six months after the start of the social movement, there were still twenty stations closed, mainly in the south and west of the capital.

The government and the management of the public company assure that the repair work carried out this year has forced the opening of new metro lines, now scheduled for 2028, to be delayed by one year.

The Santiago metro is the largest in South America, and before the social movement and then the

, it carried 2.6 million passengers every day.

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