Chile’s students and police clash over education reform

Anti-riot police in Santiago, Chile, have again clashed with thousands of students after an unauthorised peaceful march degenerated. The students were protesting that education reforms don’t go far enough, and against crackdowns on recent demonstrations. This time they massed outside the education ministry and state television network. They condemn the reforms of Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet, saying the education system is till very unequal. It is a leftover from the 1973-1990 Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. Not helped by scandals in her government, the second term centre-left Bachelet’s approval rating has crashed to 29 percent. Last week she announced a law to make university education free for 60 per cent of the poorest students starting next year. That is not enough, and too slow, the students say.