Chile in 2-day national strike as labor unions join student protests

[News_Editor]

Chile in 2-day national strike as labor unions join student protests

2011-08-25 08:59:32 GMT+7 (ICT)

SANTIAGO (BNO NEWS) -- The Workers United Center of Chile (CUT) has organized a 48-hour nationwide strike in support of student education protests among other social and economic issues, local newspapers reported on Wednesday.

The national strike started on Tuesday night with a demonstration in which saucepans were banged as a sign of protest. The strike was continued on Wednesday and will also take place on Thursday.

During the first hours of the general strike, the government reported that 35 people had been arrested and 11 were injured as a result of clashes between police officers and demonstrators.

Deputy Interior Minister Rodrigo Ubilla described the strike as a "great failure" since it said only 5.3 percent of public employees have joined the strike, according to government figures.

Meanwhile, the CUT informed through a press statement that 82 social and labor union organizations have joined the strike. The CUT further stated that they had received reports of closed avenues and streets, barricades, protests and labor strikes in several cities across the country.

In Puente Alto, an estimated 3,000 people engaged in a demonstration and around 1,000 participated in a similar event in Maipú while the National Airport stopped its operations for an hour, according to the CUT.

In the southern port city of Puerto Montt, 20,000 people participated in a massive march which was accompanied by an unprecedented demonstration of 70 vessels, El Ciudadano newspaper reported.

Despite government's efforts to downgrade the figures of the national strike, images of several places in the capital city of Santiago indicate that a great percentage of Chileans are participating, whether they are demonstrating in the streets or staying in their houses, absent from their jobs, El Ciudadano newspaper reported.

According to Arturo Martínez, president of the labor union CUT, the general strike is being held to express the demands from various social sectors, to demand respect for social and citizen rights and to reiterate the need to have a country with a new economic model, a new constitution and a new work code. The rally's resolution also calls for an immediate referendum on education.

Government spokesperson Andrés Chadwick condemned the strike but said the series of demands issued by the CUT were already being analyzed by the government.

Chilean students, along with teachers and other education workers, have been protesting for the past several weeks for a fundamental change in the educational system, demanding an end to privatized education and asking for a government which can guarantee full access, quality and funding of public education at all its levels.

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