Events in Chile: a building was set on fire in central Santiago and tension is rising

Santiago de Chile spends a night out of control on the third consecutive day of protests against the subway ticket. Demonstrations of rejection of the increase, which began in the stations, went down the street and gave rise to a series of incidents. In this context, ENEL's central building, the electricity and gas distributor, belonging to the same activity group as Edesur, was set on fire.

The fire is declared after the total closure of the subway and overnight, in the capital. Slowly, the city lit up with the flames of the entire ENEL building, located at the intersection of Santa Rosa Avenue and Padre Alonso de Ovalle. According to the portal T13, the company said that it was a fact intentional.

Chilean Interior Minister Andrés Chadwick announced Friday that the government had decided to invoke the state security law against those who are responsible "for causing damage to the property of the Santiago Metro and at the same time prevented its normal development".

The State Security Act is a tool that allows Chilean justice to speed up the prosecution of those accused of breach of public order or of public order. Domestic security. "This is the moment to make decisions and I would like to appeal to our compatriots to work together for peace and public order," said the Chilean minister.

For its part, the metro service of the capital said that because of disturbances in the stations, all lines were closed, which will remain during the weekend. "This measure is due to the serious damage to station infrastructure and systems, which prevents the creation of minimal security conditions for passengers and workers," they said in a statement.

Transport Minister Gloria Hutt explained that the suspension of the subway lines will be maintained until the repairs are made. In addition, Hutt has ruled out checking metro ticket prices. "It's an established decision"he condemned.

The beginning of the events in Chile

The protests began spontaneously, featuring students and subway users, via Twitter and the hashtag. #Massive Escape Then they started organizing new events.

The first claims began ten days ago with the escape of the ticket payment, skipping the molinetas, but on Thursday, their scale and violence, generating destruction, led the subway to temporarily suspend several subway stations.

Yesterday, five protesters from the San Joaquin train station, south of the capital, were destroyed by protesters. Others sat at the edge of the docks, which affected the train movement. In another episode, about 150 people who tried to enter Salvador's central train station were confronted with police officers who threw blunt objects and the police reacted with tear gas.

News in development being updated.