Piñera said Chile was at war

The President explained that Santiago and nine other regions out of the 16 that make up Chile are in emergency condition at the shelter of some 9,500 military and police officers, and confirmed that today, the first working day after three days of riots, 27 stations of line 1 will be open, including one of the seven constituting the subway.

The metro has been closed since Friday after 78 of its stations and wagons sustained damage valued at more than $ 300 million by the state-owned company.

Earlier, Interior Minister Andres Chadwick had confirmed the death of seven people, all looted: two in the fire from a supermarket and five in a textile factory.

The situation in Santiago resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of flights at the airport, while thousands of people were waiting at the terminals. The students called for new mobilizations for today and a great deal of difficulty is anticipated in the transfers.

The center of Santiago offered images of Dantesque destruction, with signal lights on the ground, remains of burned collectives, shops looted and thousands of stones and sticks in the streets.

"All that is happening is very sad, but people are outraged because they do not listen to it," said Antonia, 26, at AFP in the heart of the capital.

The record of these unprecedented social uprisings since the return to democracy in Chile in 1990, added Sunday 70 acts of serious violence, including 40 looting, according to Chadwick, which forced the neighbors to organize to protect their houses.

Two people were critically injured by bullet during a military patrol at dawn and the prosecutor's office reported 1,462 detainees.

Before the virulence of the incidents, the authorities decreed for the second day a curfewalthough they have advanced the start of the measurement at 19:00 (22:00 GMT), right in the middle of the state of emergency.

"Be calm and be at home," insisted General Iturriaga.

The protests erupted due to the increase in the price of the subway ticket – a measure that the government then reversed – and were unimaginable until just a few days ago, when Piñera qualified his country "oasis" of stability.

In this context, the three powers of the State wanted to give a signal of unity by bringing together this Sunday their greatest representatives at the presidential palace of La Moneda.

"Democracy has not only the right, but also the obligation to defend itself by using all the instruments that it provides and the rule of law to fight against those who want to destroy it," Piñera said. at the end of the meeting.

The hooded protesters clashed almost all day with police officers in Plaza Italia, Santiago, in the city center, under police and army surveillance.

But in the neighborhood of Ñuñoa, some 5,000 people protested peacefully for several hours, with festive songs and cries of protest against the Piñera government. Many even challenged the curfew and continued to come forward.

If the trigger was the increase in the price of the subway, the protests echoed other claims in a society that had caused much discontent for years, and they spread to other cities such as Valparaíso and Concepción.

Under the slogan "Enough of abuse" and with the slogan "ChileDespertó" on social networks, protesters are calling for an economic model in which access to health and education is virtually private, characterized by high social inequality and low pensions. and an increase in basic services.

In the small shops that decided to open their doors and at some gas stations, there were big lines to stock up on food and fuel, for fear of shortages.

Taxis and various mobile transport applications – with high tariffs in the clouds – were for the moment the only way to circulate in this city of seven million inhabitants, which will host in mid-November the summit leaders of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Forum (APEC) and in December the United Nations Climate Summit, COP 25.