Victims increase in violent protests in Chile

Five people died on Sunday when a garment factory was set aflame by looters in a suburb north of Santiago, bringing the death toll in a wave of unrest in Chile to eight. Authorities extended a curfew for a second consecutive night and broadened the state of emergency to other regions.

Earlier Sunday, officials reported that two people had burned to death in a fire at a store controlled by US retail chain Walmart, while a third person had died in hospital.

A metro fare hike, which has since been cancelled, sparked nationwide protests last week which have left hundreds injured. More than 1,400 people have been arrested — 614 in Santiago and 848 in the rest of the country, according to authorities.

Protests continued across the country despite a state of emergency in five regions declared by President Sebastián Pinera on Friday, allowing authorities to restrict people’s freedom of movement and their right to assembly.

Thousands of soldiers and tanks have been sent to the streets of the capital and other cities for the first time since 1990, when Chile returned to democracy after the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Via BBC