Dozens injured after fare hike stirs violent unrest in Chile

Dozens have reportedly sustained injuries in Chile anti-austerity protests against the price rise in fares.

Amid widespread anger over rising living costs, a rise in fares on the Santiago metro system earlier this month, people came out on streets and burned tyres in one of Latin America’s wealthiest and most stable countries, Chile.

Firefighters said the five people were killed in a garment factory burned by rioters in Renca, a northern suburb of Santiago, bringing to seven the total number of protest-related fatalities.

Police and the military fired tear gas and used water cannon against protesters in the city as clashes over price hikes and social inequality raged through a third day, forcing the government to extend the curfew.

Government called a state of emergency and deploy troops onto the streets for the first time since Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship between 1973 and 1990.