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Riot police detaining a student during the education protest yesterday in Santiago, Chile (photo: REUTERS/Eliseo Fernandez)
Chile: Protesters Demanding Education Rights Met With Tear Gas, Water Cannons
Protesters reject 2-tiered education system, demand free, quality education for all
Mar 16, 2012
Thousands of students in Chile hit the streets yesterday in continued calls for the government to provide free, quality education. Police responded with heavy force, using tear gas and water cannons to attempt to break up the demonstration.
Amnesty International has issued a call to Chilean President Sebastian Pinera to address recent police violence toward students and ongoing human rights abuses.
* * *
Video from RT shows protesters fleeing water cannons and police throwing tear gas towards protesters:
* * *
BBC: Chile students clash with police as protests resume
Police in Chile have used tear gas and water cannon to break up a protest by thousands of students in Santiago.
It was the first big demonstration this year by Chile's student movement, which held months of mass protests in 2011.
They are demanding free, high-quality public education for all, as well as the reinstatement of students excluded from school for protesting. [...]
The student demonstration began as a peaceful march in the centre of the capital.
Clashes broke out as hundreds of protesters tried to break through police lines outside the Education Ministry.
Masked youths set up burning barricades and threw stones and petrol bombs at riot police.
At least 50 people were arrested, the authorities said.
The dispute over educational reform remains unresolved despite months of mass protests backed by teachers and trade unions as well as students.
* * *
Agence France-Presse: 50 arrested as Chile education protest turn violent
At least 50 people were arrested in Santiago when police clashed with students angry at the low quality and high cost of public education.
The demo, involving some 5,000 protesters, also saw three officers hurt in the hours-long clashes, police said.
Police used water cannons and tear gas against the demonstrators and deployed officers on horseback to try to control the crowd. The students responded by hurling stones, sticks and bottles filled with paint. [...]
Chilean students staged more than 40 street marches last year. Some of them drew more than 100,000 people, making them the country's largest rallies since the end of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in 1990. Several marches resulted in clashes with police. [...]
Under Pinochet, state funding for public education was slashed, privatization encouraged and responsibility for public schools passed to municipalities.
The result has been a system dividing those who can afford private schools and those who are relegated to lower quality public schools, or benefit from public schools in wealthy neighborhoods.
* * *
The Santiago Times: Human rights abuses remain in Chile, says Amnesty International
[...]
"We sent a letter to Pinera that contains our concerns of human rights abuses in Chile," AI Executive Director Ana Piquer said. "It is exhaustive to see how many issues need to change in Chile."
Piquer said while there had been many advances in Chile such as the creation of the National institute of Human Rights in 2010, there were still plenty of shortfalls, including police violence.
"The government has to take responsibility for recent police violence toward students and Aysen protesters," Piquer said. "Here it is a normal procedure for police to use gases and water indiscriminately on demonstrators, but if this is needed it should be the last resort." [...]
"The greatest concern is the acts of violence that are committed by police forces. These need to be investigated in an impartial and responsible way," Piquer said. "The authorities have been inactive and this concerns us because it means in the future the violence will increase if it remains unchecked." [...]
"If someone were to use Twitter to announce a protest and that protest ended in violence, then that person who Tweeted the invitation can be arrested and charged," Piquer said.
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Thousands of students in Chile hit the streets yesterday in continued calls for the government to provide free, quality education. Police responded with heavy force, using tear gas and water cannons to attempt to break up the demonstration.
Amnesty International has issued a call to Chilean President Sebastian Pinera to address recent police violence toward students and ongoing human rights abuses.
* * *
Video from RT shows protesters fleeing water cannons and police throwing tear gas towards protesters:
* * *
BBC: Chile students clash with police as protests resume
Police in Chile have used tear gas and water cannon to break up a protest by thousands of students in Santiago.
It was the first big demonstration this year by Chile's student movement, which held months of mass protests in 2011.
They are demanding free, high-quality public education for all, as well as the reinstatement of students excluded from school for protesting. [...]
The student demonstration began as a peaceful march in the centre of the capital.
Clashes broke out as hundreds of protesters tried to break through police lines outside the Education Ministry.
Masked youths set up burning barricades and threw stones and petrol bombs at riot police.
At least 50 people were arrested, the authorities said.
The dispute over educational reform remains unresolved despite months of mass protests backed by teachers and trade unions as well as students.
* * *
Agence France-Presse: 50 arrested as Chile education protest turn violent
At least 50 people were arrested in Santiago when police clashed with students angry at the low quality and high cost of public education.
The demo, involving some 5,000 protesters, also saw three officers hurt in the hours-long clashes, police said.
Police used water cannons and tear gas against the demonstrators and deployed officers on horseback to try to control the crowd. The students responded by hurling stones, sticks and bottles filled with paint. [...]
Chilean students staged more than 40 street marches last year. Some of them drew more than 100,000 people, making them the country's largest rallies since the end of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in 1990. Several marches resulted in clashes with police. [...]
Under Pinochet, state funding for public education was slashed, privatization encouraged and responsibility for public schools passed to municipalities.
The result has been a system dividing those who can afford private schools and those who are relegated to lower quality public schools, or benefit from public schools in wealthy neighborhoods.
* * *
The Santiago Times: Human rights abuses remain in Chile, says Amnesty International
[...]
"We sent a letter to Pinera that contains our concerns of human rights abuses in Chile," AI Executive Director Ana Piquer said. "It is exhaustive to see how many issues need to change in Chile."
Piquer said while there had been many advances in Chile such as the creation of the National institute of Human Rights in 2010, there were still plenty of shortfalls, including police violence.
"The government has to take responsibility for recent police violence toward students and Aysen protesters," Piquer said. "Here it is a normal procedure for police to use gases and water indiscriminately on demonstrators, but if this is needed it should be the last resort." [...]
"The greatest concern is the acts of violence that are committed by police forces. These need to be investigated in an impartial and responsible way," Piquer said. "The authorities have been inactive and this concerns us because it means in the future the violence will increase if it remains unchecked." [...]
"If someone were to use Twitter to announce a protest and that protest ended in violence, then that person who Tweeted the invitation can be arrested and charged," Piquer said.
Thousands of students in Chile hit the streets yesterday in continued calls for the government to provide free, quality education. Police responded with heavy force, using tear gas and water cannons to attempt to break up the demonstration.
Amnesty International has issued a call to Chilean President Sebastian Pinera to address recent police violence toward students and ongoing human rights abuses.
* * *
Video from RT shows protesters fleeing water cannons and police throwing tear gas towards protesters:
* * *
BBC: Chile students clash with police as protests resume
Police in Chile have used tear gas and water cannon to break up a protest by thousands of students in Santiago.
It was the first big demonstration this year by Chile's student movement, which held months of mass protests in 2011.
They are demanding free, high-quality public education for all, as well as the reinstatement of students excluded from school for protesting. [...]
The student demonstration began as a peaceful march in the centre of the capital.
Clashes broke out as hundreds of protesters tried to break through police lines outside the Education Ministry.
Masked youths set up burning barricades and threw stones and petrol bombs at riot police.
At least 50 people were arrested, the authorities said.
The dispute over educational reform remains unresolved despite months of mass protests backed by teachers and trade unions as well as students.
* * *
Agence France-Presse: 50 arrested as Chile education protest turn violent
At least 50 people were arrested in Santiago when police clashed with students angry at the low quality and high cost of public education.
The demo, involving some 5,000 protesters, also saw three officers hurt in the hours-long clashes, police said.
Police used water cannons and tear gas against the demonstrators and deployed officers on horseback to try to control the crowd. The students responded by hurling stones, sticks and bottles filled with paint. [...]
Chilean students staged more than 40 street marches last year. Some of them drew more than 100,000 people, making them the country's largest rallies since the end of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in 1990. Several marches resulted in clashes with police. [...]
Under Pinochet, state funding for public education was slashed, privatization encouraged and responsibility for public schools passed to municipalities.
The result has been a system dividing those who can afford private schools and those who are relegated to lower quality public schools, or benefit from public schools in wealthy neighborhoods.
* * *
The Santiago Times: Human rights abuses remain in Chile, says Amnesty International
[...]
"We sent a letter to Pinera that contains our concerns of human rights abuses in Chile," AI Executive Director Ana Piquer said. "It is exhaustive to see how many issues need to change in Chile."
Piquer said while there had been many advances in Chile such as the creation of the National institute of Human Rights in 2010, there were still plenty of shortfalls, including police violence.
"The government has to take responsibility for recent police violence toward students and Aysen protesters," Piquer said. "Here it is a normal procedure for police to use gases and water indiscriminately on demonstrators, but if this is needed it should be the last resort." [...]
"The greatest concern is the acts of violence that are committed by police forces. These need to be investigated in an impartial and responsible way," Piquer said. "The authorities have been inactive and this concerns us because it means in the future the violence will increase if it remains unchecked." [...]
"If someone were to use Twitter to announce a protest and that protest ended in violence, then that person who Tweeted the invitation can be arrested and charged," Piquer said.
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A federal court judge on Sunday declared the Trump administration's refusal to return a man they sent to an El Salvadoran prison in "error" as "totally lawless" behavior and ordered the Department of Homeland Security to repatriate the man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, within 24 hours.
In a 22-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis doubled down on an order issued Friday, which Department of Justice lawyers representing the administration said was an affront to his executive authority.
"This was an illegal act," Xinis said of DHS Secretary Krisi Noem's attack on Abrego Garcia's rights, including his deportation and imprisonment.
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Once imprisoned in El Salvador, the order continues, "U.S. officials secured his detention in a facility that, by design, deprives its detainees of adequate food, water, and shelter, fosters routine violence; and places him with his persecutors."
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Trump Escalates 'Illegal' and 'Immoral' Push for IRS Data to Fuel Mass Deportations
"You'd be a fool to think Trump won't go after others he dislikes," warned Sen. Ron Wyden, "including American citizens."
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Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon slammed the Trump administration over the weekend in response to fresh reporting that the Department of Homeland Security has intensified its push for access to confidential data held by the Internal Revenue Service—part of a sweeping effort to target immigrant workers who pay into the U.S. tax system yet get little or nothing in return.
Wyden denounced the effort, which had the fingerprints of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, all over it.
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According to the Washington Post reporting on Saturday:
Federal immigration officials are seeking to locate up to 7 million people suspected of being in the United States unlawfully by accessing confidential tax data at the Internal Revenue Service, according to six people familiar with the request, a dramatic escalation in how the Trump administration aims to use the tax system to detain and deport immigrants.
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Wyden warned that those who violate the law by disclosing personal tax data face the risk of civil sanction or even prosecution.
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"I think when we talk about America is a democracy, I think we should rephrase it, call it a 'pseudo-democracy.'"
That's what Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday morning in response to questions from CBS News about the state of the nation, with President Donald Trump gutting the federal government from head to toe, challenging constitutional norms, allowing his cabinet of billionaires to run key agencies they philosophically want to destroy, and empowering Elon Musk—the world's richest person—to run roughshod over public education, undermine healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and attack Social Security.
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In a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate on Friday night, just before the Republican-controlled chamber was able to pass a sweeping spending resolution that will lay waste to vital programs like Medicaid and food assistance to needy families so that billionaires and the ultra-rich can enjoy even more tax giveaways, Sanders said, "What we have is a budget proposal in front of us that makes bad situations much worse and does virtually nothing to protect the needs of working families."
LIVE: I'm on the floor now talking about Trump's totally absurd budget.
They got it exactly backwards. No tax cuts for billionaires by cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid for Americans. https://t.co/ULB2KosOSJ
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What the GOP spending plan does do, he added, "is reward wealthy campaign contributors by providing over $1 trillion in tax breaks for the top one percent."
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The next leg of Sanders' "Fight Oligarchy' tour will kick off next Saturday, with stops in California, Utah, and Idaho over four days.
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