Chilean police kills teenage protester

This video is called Chilean students demand education reform.

By Joseph Kishore:

Teenager killed by police in mass demonstrations in Chile

27 August 2011

Hundreds of thousands of Chilean workers and students took part this week in strikes and demonstrations against social inequality and the privatization of education. The government of right-wing billionaire Sebastián Piñera responded to the two-day general strike, which ended on Thursday, with repression and violence, including mass arrests and the killing of at least one youth.

The 14-year old boy, Manuel Gutiérrez Reinoso, died early Friday from a bullet wound in the chest. Witnesses said he had been shot by police. Dozens of others have been hurt and as many as 1,400 detained or arrested. Police in full riot gear have used tear gas and water cannons against blockades set up by youth. Another youth, 18-year-old Mario Parraguez Pinto, was shot in the eye and is in critical condition at a Santiago hospital.

The killing of Gutiérrez Reinsoso followed a demonstration of some 600,000 in the capital of Santiago and protests in other cities throughout the country. Protesters are demanding free public education, increased taxes on the corporations and the wealthy, and better pensions and health care for workers. The demonstrations were followed in the evening on both days of the strike by clashes between youth and police.

There is overwhelming popular backing for the demonstrators, with one poll putting support for the students at 72 to 81 percent. In contrast, an opinion poll this month pegged Piñera’s approval rating at only 26 percent.

The strike was called by the Workers’ United Center of Chile (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile, CUT) and the Chilean Student Confederation (Confederación de Estudiantes de Chile, CONFECH). The two-day strike was the first of its kind since the end of dictator Augusto Pinochet’s rule in 1990.

Dutch solidarity with Chilean students: here.

About 100 people gathered on the steps of the Sydney Opera House on August 21 to show their support for the student movement in Chile, which is campaigning for free education: here.

A police sergeant accused of killing a teenager during Chile’s mass protests for social justice will face a military tribunal instead of a civilian court despite objections from student leaders and human rights activists: here.

As student protests continue to rock Chile’s neoliberal consensus, Roberto Navarrete sets the revolt in context: here.

Student Movement Rocks Chile: here.