[1]Tens of thousands of students returned to the streets of Santiago on Thursday in the largest rally of the year demanding a comprehensive reform of the educational system they dub unjust and ineffective.
The festive demonstration started at the Plaza Italia before it started off on Alameda Avenue, the main artery of the capital city. The march passed La Moneda, the Chilean presidential palace.
More than 120,000 people marched in the procession, under heavy police surveillance, organizers said. The authorities have yet to issue their estimate.
University students have organized some 40 marches since last year, asking President Sebastian Pinera -- first rightist president since the end of the dictatorship in the South American nation in 1990 -- to reform an educational system they say is expensive and weak.
Some 5,000 students participated in a March rally, and 100,000 returned to the streets in May, according to the student union. Only 20,000 participated in the May rally, according to official estimates.
The system, largely owned by the private sector, is a vestige of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990), which slashed government funding for public higher education by more than half.
"There are a lot of questions about a development model that generates benefits for a minority" in "education, health, retirement, travel, natural resources," said one of the movement's organizers, Camila Vallejo.
The Pinera administration has proposed legislation aiming to lower student loans, but the move failed to appease protestors.
Some demonstrators damaged street furniture in isolated incidents at Thursday's rally.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/chile0jpgcropdisplayjpg-071