Santiago – Demonstrations in support of a strike organized Tuesday by the teachers guild resulted in the arrests of eight people in this capital and other Chilean cities, police and union officials said.
Health care workers, who have been on strike for 19 days, other public employees and high-school and university students held protests in support of the teachers’ job action.
Some 7,000 people, most of them students, marched in Santiago to the Education Ministry amid a large police presence.
During the march, some demonstrators threw lemons and eggs at the police and tried to block traffic, leading to the arrests of five people, including one individual caught planting a firecracker in a trash dump.
In the Pacific port of Valparaiso, where some 3,000 people demonstrated, three students carrying pots with acid and a machete were arrested, the police said.
Protesters also staged peaceful demonstrations in the southern cities of Concepcion and Temuco.
The police presence in Santiago was stepped up after six presumed members of an anarchist group in possession of incendiary bombs and propaganda material were arrested hours before the demonstration.
The teachers guild, which is in talks with the Education Ministry, convened the strike to press its demand for higher salaries, reform of the Augusto Pinochet-era LOCE education statute and changes to the municipal administration of high schools.
Chilean students launched mass protests earlier this year to demand, among other things, free use of public transport and a waiver of fees for the PSU college-entrance exam and for student identification cards.
The demonstrations intensified after May 19 when students occupied hundreds of schools nationwide, included two days of national protest during which thousands were arrested, dozens were injured and material damages were widespread.
