Chileans in Australia joined expat communities around the world to express their solidarity with their countrymen amid mass protests in Chile, which have resulted in at least 12 deaths.
Protests in Chile began when an increase in the price of the subway ticket was announced but later escalated into largescale demonstrations which denounced social inequalies, low pensions, and the high price of basic services, among other issues that affect the population.
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, who on Sunday catalogued the situation in his country as a “war against a powerful enemy”, decreed a state of emergency in Chile on Saturday and later the Armed Forces declared a curfew that has been in force since Sunday.
Chileans in Australia gather
The social unrest in Chile reminded many exiles, including refugees who fled the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990), of the dark years of repression.
More than 600 people gathered on Sunday in Federation Square in Melbourne, with flags and banners that read "Fuerza Chile", or force Chile.
"We are Chileans, we are going to win this fight," the protesters chanted.
In Sydney, another group from the South American country gathered on Sunday in front of the Opera House, to express their solidarity.
"Piñera, resign now, military return to the barracks," read a banner at another demonstration in Sydney on Monday, in front of the Chilean consulate.
There, the protesters delivered a letter addressed to President Piñera asking him to resign.
“We do not want more murders or victims. We want our families in Chile to live in peace. We, who are mostly refugees, know what it is like to be in those conditions in Chile,” Sandra Valdés, who was in front of the Chilean consulate building in Sydney, said in a video released by social networks.
"Chile is not alone, the international community is attentive to what is happening in Chile," the activist added.
Demonstrations of solidarity Australia will continue this week.
Vigils are expected to be held in Melbourne and Sydney, while on Sunday there will be another peaceful demonstration in front of the Opera House.
Waiver requests
After intense protests, in a first declaration of intention, the right-wing president proposed on Tuesday a "social agreement" that would silence the worst social outbreak in several decades in the country.
In his public message, Piñera said he would meet on Wednesday with partisan leaders "from both government and opposition, in order to explore and hopefully move towards a social agreement that allows us all together to approach quickly, efficiently and also with responsibility towards better solutions to the problems that affect Chileans."
The trigger for the conflict was the increase in the subway fare, but later, and despite the fact that Piñera's government suspended the increase, the protests continued with other claims that have been brewing for years in a country where a sector is unhappy with an economic model whose access to health and education is geared towards private.
The protests are also against high social inequality, low pensions and rising basic services.
Opposition parties in the country are calling for Piñera’s resignation to put an end to the social crisis in the country, which although has lived several decades with democracy, has not yet healed the wounds of the dictatorship.
Anti-government protesters take part in a ongoing demonstrations triggered by an increase in subway fares in Santiago, Chile, 21 October. Source: AAP
"The solution to the crisis is the resignation of the president and the call for early elections, hopefully with a call to a Constituent Assembly, which is what should have been done after the end of the dictatorship," said Dino Pancani, the former leader of the student movement of the 1980s.
Mr Pancani also relied on the support of the international community to end the spiral of violence "so that we do not live in the same situation as 40 years ago."
The government decreed the state of emergency and a curfew, which was a common measure during the dictatorship of Pinochet, which left more than 3,200 dead and missing.
A protester kicks a tear gas canister during clashes with police in Santiago, Chile. Source: AAP
Many young people during the current unrest have defied the curfew, thus giving continuity to the tense situation which has paralysed many institutions.
During the first day of curfew, 244 people were arrested, while a further 163 were detained on Sunday night and early Monday morning, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior.
The Ñuñoa neighbourhood has become one of the bastions of peaceful protest.
On Sunday, some 5,000 people filled the main square with music, songs and slogans that were heard until after 10pm. On Monday the protest continued.
These young people called for “abuses” be stopped in a country suffocated by inequalities, where half of the workers receive a salary equal to or less than 400,000 pesos per month, equivalent to A$562 and a little higher than the minimum wage of 301,000 pesos.
