Chile's emergency summit: Sebastián Piñera met with the leaders of the Congress and the President of the Supreme Court

Even though it was Sunday, inside the Palacio de la Moneda, it seemed like it was a weekday. The prevailing social climate in Santiago, Chile, and in several parts of the country, deserved it. The Congress has also opened its doors today to the legislators to propose solutions to them.

The head of state, Sebastián Piñera, summoned Sunday Moneda street, between Morandé and Teatinos, to the parliamentary leaders, the president of the Senate Jaime Quintanaand that of the deputies Iván Flores, and the president of the Supreme Court of Justice Haroldo Brito.

After the summit, Piñera announced in La Moneda two measures: first, the government sent a bill to suspend the increase of the metro ticket – which triggered protests in various parts of the country – at a special session of Congress.

Preventively, during this time, the executive has established "state of emergency in five regions of the country": Metropolitan, Valparaiso, Biobío, Coquimbo and O. Higgins. And in this sense, he said: "We invoke the law on state security not against citizens but against criminals".

"With this meeting, we are looking for ways to solve the serious situation of violence that we have encountered in recent days, democracy has the right but also the obligation to defend against those who want to destroy it" he warned.

The parliamentary leaders, Quintana and Flores, agreed to underline Piñera's move to step back with the revival of the metro ticket, but they considered that protesters took to the streets to protest against social inequalities beyond the increase of transport. However, they promised that Congress would vote quickly on the government's plan to bury the metro's increase.