Chile: Pot-Banging Demonstrations for Public Education

Santiago de Chile, Aug 19. – Demonstrators banged pots and pans from Thursday night to early Friday in various cities, part of the ongoing mass mobilizations to demand a different political system, one that guarantees free public education.

The sound of students, teachers, and workers banging on pots and pans was heard in public squares in the capital and around the country, in cities like La Serena, Valparaiso, Temuco, and Concepcion, according to local radio reports.

The unique protests were organized by the Chilean Students Federation, an umbrella group for 30 university federations demanding an end to for-profit education at all levels.

Pot-banging protests were used by the people as a form of struggle during the 1973-1990 military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and they are once again taking over public spaces, El Siglo newspaper reported on Friday.

The Thursday night pot-banging wound up a day of massive protests, with more than 250,000 demonstrators around the country, defying rain and snow in the capital.(Prensa Latina)