Santiago de Chile: massive demonstrations against the increase in the price of the metro

At the same time, the building of the Italian company ENEL – which provides electricity to the Chilean capital – burned, while the city was recording cacerolazo night

Recruited via social networks under the slogan #EvasionMasivaTodoElDia, Thousands of people – mostly students – were organized throughout the week to demolish the gateways to the train stations, destroy the windlasses and pass the metro access controls.

Thursday the protests left 133 detainees after simultaneous actions in at least five of the 164 railway stations of the metropolitan railway line, with damages calculated by the state company between 400 and 500 million pesos, equivalent to about 634,000 dollars.

On the basis of rising oil prices, the dollar and the modernization of the system, the value of Santiago's metro ticket at rush hour – in the morning and afternoon – was 830 pesos (about $ 1.17). Since 2010, there has been no increase in this range.

Late in the afternoon, the crown corporation announced the closure of all its stations.

"The entire metro network is closed due to disturbances and destruction that prevent minimal security conditions for passengers and workers," the metropolitan railway announced, via a Twitter message, at the time of the attacks. seasons.

Rail operations "will remain suspended while operations are underway to restore service, and we may gradually return to a normal operation over the next week," said Transport Minister Gloria Hutt.

In various parts of the city, protesters erected barricades and clashed with the police. On the central square of Italia and the government palace, face down with stones and a stick to the special forces, who repelled the attacks with fountains of water and gas, in a real battle that has never been seen before . Chilean capital