By Theodora Backhouse.
Making my way home on a Thursday evening rush hour is always a busy affair; I and swarms of commuters head to the two opposing metro exits to continue our journey home, although this evening, there is an air of unease as everyone is herded like cattle to just one exit. I casually turn to the available exit and assume that this is just an inconvenience due to maintenance, a typical happening in the city of over 6 million habitants, Santiago, Chile. As we arrive at ground level of Universidad Católica metro station, I stand still as people start running for shelter while covering up their mouths with their hands or clothes. My immediate reaction to this is to, of course, follow everyone else. I tried to judge the severity of the situation but this was a tough feat as all the facial expressions showed a rainbow of emotion. Young people wore nervous smiles, some were angry due to the interruption in their already busy schedule and the rest looked afraid and intimidated.
I hurriedly asked a girl standing next to me what was going on, she simply replied, “Oh, just student protests”. Tear gas being sprayed over the streets and large, overbearing riot vans swerving from left to right was now being considered a usual occurrence. Having seen the snow-ball effect of the London riots last August, it made me evaluate the two different reactions of both the English police force and the Chilean “carabineros”. Is an aggressive of passive reaction more or less successful to subdue protests that result in violence?
The protests that have been taking place from 2011-12 in Chile, mainly in Santiago, are so students of all backgrounds have the opportunity to receive the same standard of education. The silent protest that occurred last August 6th in Tottenham, London was a show of disappointment that the family of Mark Duggan, who was shot by a police officer, were not informed of his death within an appropriate amount of time. Both these protests differed in size and purpose however both resulted in violence. This violence then became the main talking point for the media and it overshadowed the main purpose of the protests all together.
This then brings me on to the reaction of the two police forces. Many in England voiced their disappointment of the more gentle approach taken by the police towards violent rioters however if you’d seen the aggressive nature of some of the ‘carabineros’ towards the masked rioters in Santiago, you may think twice about fighting violence with violence. Considering the other key factors that add to aggressive behaviour during protests, I feel that the ‘carabineros’ show of aggression towards protestors is only going to worsen the predicament. Heat, alcohol, crowded spaces are all triggers of this kind of crude behaviour. The way in which the government reacts to these protests is the ultimate factor that determines how the protest will unfold. Ultimately, it is the public that end up paying more taxes to cover the high cost of the repairs needed after such copious amounts of violence takes place.
These aggravating factors and the satisfaction and status for young people to go against law enforcement in both England and Chile are all together catalysts for disaster. The impression I seem to get from both the violence in England and in Chile is that those creating the violence are using the protests as an excuse to release their anger towards law enforcement whether it is rational or not. If we are going to behave like animals then surely we should be treated and controlled like animals?
In all cases undoubtedly, the protest leaders here feel that the negativity of the violence overshadows the purpose of their protest and also affects its integrity. Other ways of protesting have been tried in Chile, for example the kiss-in which shows the opposite of violence. However was the Chilean government taking sufficient notice of this gentler protest? Where is the happy medium between violent chaos and kissing marathon? With Piñera’s promise of making education his number one priority, you have to wonder if the violence of the student protests has helped to show the severity in this situation. Obviously, I have to appreciate that the stage of development of both Chile and England are not the same however the hostility between the two police forces and the Chilean and English public is still just as apparent. Are violent actions such as the use of tear gas and water cannons, and swerving vans all over the road the most successful in subduing the chaos? Should we fight fire with fire?
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