Chile: Sebastián Piñera suspends subway fare hike amid protests

On October 19, Chile president, Sebastián Piñera, stated that the subway fare hikes have been rolled back amid violent protests. The announcement came in less than a day after Piñera, had announced a state of emergency amid public unrest in the capital, Santiago. President Sebastián Piñera stated that he had heard what the people wanted to say before he rolled back the subway hike. Although, it was unclear if the suspension would put a complete stop to the ongoing protests.

For the first time since 1990

For the first time since the end of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in 1990, Military was witnessed roaming the streets of Santiago in order to maintain peace after violent protests over the hike in subway fares from $1.12 to $1.16 resulted in a clash between the high school students and the concerned authorities. 

With Chile not being able to produce its own supply of oil and importing it from foreign lands, it has led to high costs in terms of electricity, fuel, and transportation. The Chilean government stated that it was imperative for them to increase the subway fares in order to tackle the rising energy costs and employ further maintenance but that led to a sense of frustration among a lot of citizens.

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A state of emergency

Even after Sebastián Piñera suspended the hike, subway and public transportation services were not open to the public till late evening on October 19 and the state of emergency had not been lifted off. Also, the officials had set a 10 pm- 7 am a curfew for Santiago. On October 18, the person who handled Santiago's subway system made an announcement that the services were being suspended in three of its lines and later during the day, all 6 train routes were suspended.

Read: Chile Declares State Of Emergency In Santiago Amidst Protests

In the events that preceded this, the violent protests by the highschool students began on October 14 when students numbering in hundreds swarmed several metro stations in the capital city in relation to a protest that happened due to the government increasing subway fares. A few days into the protests, the protests turned even more violent as students burned and damaged a few other stations. According to the authorities, about 156 police officers and 11 civilians suffered injuries and more than 300 people were taken into custody. In addition to this, the authorities stated that 78 subway stations had been subject to damage wherein infrastructure and equipment were vandalized.

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(With inputs from agencies)