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Summary: High school occupations spread in Santiago, after negotiations with Mayor Zalaquett break down.
[16 August 2012] - The wave of student protests in Santiago continued on Thursday, with a fresh series of high school occupations or “tomas.” This latest outpouring of dissent comes after talks between student leaders and Santiago Mayor Pablo Zalaquett failed to bring about an agreement, as students rejected Zalaquett’s proposals. “We know that the struggle is hard and often has costs, but we believe that if we do not try the cost for Chile will be much higher,” he added. The use of riot police to evict school occupations has been highly controversial in Chile. More controversial still is the Public Order Control Law, or “Hinzpeter Law” named after Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter, which proposes increased punishment for unauthorised protests and occupations. Under the law, the occupation of public property is seen as a crime and could carry a three year jail term. Mayor Zalaquett justified the use of force to evict protesters by saying that he believed that the occupying students “were going to call reinforcements and put up a fight, making a peaceful eviction impossible.” “My role is to guarantee education for the thousands of students who just want to study,” he told reporters, adding that he thought those students in the toma were “encapuchados,” or hooded vandals common in Chile for causing violence at protests. However, at Barros Borgoño school in downtown Santiago, which was scheduled for eviction on Thursday, Zalaquett’s remarks seemed exaggerated. The atmosphere was peaceful and upbeat; students listened to music, played soccer, chanted and waved banners outside the school. Cars that drove by the school beeped their horns in support of the toma. Some students huddled around a television set, watching the latest developments from around Santiago’s schools on the news. There were mattresses with sheets inside some classrooms, indicating that several students had spent Wednesday night at the school. Tensions only grew when police vehicles drove by, at which point some students threw objects into the street, though nothing more dangerous than bottle caps and empty juice cartons. “We are here for a number of reasons,” 14-year-old Joaquín Merino told The Santiago Times. “We’re here to fight the Hinzpeter Law that would criminalise protests, we’re here to ask for free education and we’re here because the minimum wage isn’t enough to pay for education. In Chile, the quality of education good, it just is not available to all.” Eighteen-year-old Darío Del Valle echoed the sentiment. “I’m here to fight for free education,” he said. “I think access to education is a human right. They (the government) have not offered us anything that is concrete enough to stop the tomas.” Many young Chileans have used social networking sites to praise the “tomas” and prominent Chilean rock musician, Alex Anwandter, promised on his Twitter feed to play free concerts at occupied schools. Following the breakdown in talks between Zalaquett and student leaders, widespread disruption is likely to continue across Santiago’s high schools. At the time of publication, police had yet to evict the Barros Borgoño occupation. Further Information:
pdf: http://www.santiagotimes.cl/chile/education/25046-chilean-police-arrest-...