AGENCIES: Five people have died after a garment factory was set ablaze by looters near Chile’s capital Santiago amid a wave of protests.
The military and police used tear gas shells and water cannons against demonstrators, and a night-time curfew was imposed in major cities.
The unrest, sparked by a now-suspended metro fare hike, has widened to reflect anger over living costs and inequality.
President Sebastián Piñera has defended the government’s response.
Protests continued across the country despite a state of emergency in five regions declared by Piñera 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.
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