24 August 2011

CHILE: 26 Aug UPDATE: Strike Day # 2: Teen Shot Dead, Dozens Injured, 1,400 Arrested...As Violence Erupts Again During 1st General Strike Since 1990; What The Protests Are About.

                                          BBC
     
    The toll from the second day of a general strike included...a 14-year-old dead after being shot in the chest, dozens injured including 17 police...almost 300 city buses were torched overnight...and 1,400 were arrested.
    At night...police fought off some of the 50,000-400,000 protesters who had barricaded
Santiago's streets and burned tires...during the first general strike since 1990.
     Police responded again with water cannons and tear gas on the second day of the 2 day national strike against the policies of the increasingly unpopular, conservative President Pinera.
     The government claims the strike will cost at least $400m in lost productivity.


BLOG/OPINION by Setty Southam:
       "As Chile plunges into its first general strike in eight years, outside observers can be excused if they are a bit surprised. Chile is supposed to be the stodgy, conservative, institutionality-respecting corner of South America, where nothing ever happens. But this is changing as the public runs out of patience after centuries of being told that if they wait and work hard, someday their children will be better off than they are."
http://settysoutham.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/notes-from-the-chilean-revolution-2011/