Santiago Rocked by Riots and President Calls for Peace
Santiago Rocked by Riots and President Calls for Peace
(Bloomberg) -- Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera called for a national agreement on peace and a new constitution as security forces struggled to control riots across central Santiago Tuesday evening.
Speaking from the presidential palace, close to the disturbances, Pinera asked political forces and social organizations to unite around peace and social justice.
“This situation needs to end and it needs to end now,” Pinera said. It “is damaging the rule of law, the rights and freedoms of everyone and especially of those most vulnerable and of our middle class.”
In the hours before he spoke, rumors swirled that he may announce a new state of emergency and call the army back onto the streets to restore order after almost four weeks of often violent protests. As it was, he merely called on former policemen to return to the force and asked for agreements with the opposition.
During today’s disturbances in Santiago, a historic church went up in flames, a hotel was looted and burnt and the Argentine embassy attacked in some of the worst rioting Chile has seen since a wave of civil unrest erupted on Oct. 18. At times, swathes of the center appeared to have been abandoned to the protesters.
The incidents follow a day of protests across the country, some of which ended in looting and arson attacks. The peso tumbled as much as 5%, closing at a fresh record low while the stock market slid another 4% to the lowest in more than two years.
Shops and supermarkets in the northern city of Antofagasta were looted as a mob took over the streets of Chile’s so-called mining capital. A building owned by the police and the local government’s Intendencia building were burnt, according to the national TV channel 24 Horas.
“Public order has been violated and citizens’ safety has not been respected,” Pinera said. “These are times of grandeur, this is what our people are asking for.”
Convulsed by the worst civil unrest in a generation, Chile’s government also said today it is turning to a sovereign wealth fund to help finance expenditure.
The government will withdraw $1 billion from its Economic and Social Stabilization Fund in the next few days and another $1.4 billion in early 2020, the Finance Ministry said in a statement late Tuesday.
--With assistance from Sebastian Boyd.
To contact the reporters on this story: Philip Sanders in Santiago at psanders@bloomberg.net;Laura Millan Lombrana in Santiago at lmillan4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Julia Leite at jleite3@bloomberg.net
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