Same Old, Same Old

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Chilean protesters clashed with police in a number of cities across Chile this week, as the South American nation marks the anniversary of the 2019 mass demonstrations over inequality, Euronews reported Wednesday.

In 2019, Chile was gripped by large and often deadly protests over the inequality divide: Demonstrators were demanding improvements to healthcare, education, pension and housing. The violent clashes left 33 people dead and over 400 injured.

The protests were also marked by more than 3,000 complaints of human rights violations.

At the time, the demonstrations prompted officials to push for the drafting of a new and more progressive constitution to replace one dating back to the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, according to Al Jazeera.

But that draft charter was recently overwhelmingly rejected by more than 60 percent of Chile’s electorate as being too far-reaching.

The rejection was a major blow for Chile’s young leftist President Gabriel Boric, who had backed the new constitution.

Boric marked the anniversary by calling for calm and dialogue, vowing that the demands of the 2019 protests will not go unheeded.

Chile is experiencing escalating insecurity as a result of increased crime, unchecked illegal immigration in the north and a wave of arson attacks in the south.