Chile president extends state of emergency

Published On: October 23, 2019 12:00 AM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal


Civil unrest sparked by a subway fare hike has widened to reflect anger over high living costs and inequality in one of Latin America’s wealthiest countries. President Sebastián Piñera has cancelled the fare hike and deployed troops for first time since the end of Augusto Pinochet dictatorship in 1990.

Around 10,500 police and soldiers have been deployed. More than 1,400 people have been arrested. A state of emergency already in place in Santiago is to be extended to cities in the country’s north and south. Five people die on Sunday after looters torched a garment factory in a northern suburb of the nation’s capital, taking the death toll in the protests to at least eight. The unrest has exposed 
divisions and intensified calls for economic reforms.


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