The meaning behind protests in Chile

There is an old Chilean saying that “no evil lasts a hundred years, and there’s no Christian that could stand it.” The recent protests that have spread across the country mark the end of people’s patience with the ‘evil’ that the Pinochet-era constitution and social structure represented for many. For the last week Chile has seen the most significant mass protests since the end of the dictatorship in 1990. For the first time in years, people have built barricades in Santiago and other cities and have participated in ‘cacerolazos’ – the coordinated banging of pots and pans and beeping of car horns as a sign of protest that were a hallmark of the struggle against the dictatorship. Even the chants of the demonstrators recalled earlier times (although slightly modified). Not so the behaviour of the police, which used Pinochet-era legislation to repress the demonstrators with tear gas, water cannon and beatings. Over 800 people have been arrested.