On October 18^, 2020, marking the anniversary of the violent protests that left 30 dead in Chile last year, tens of thousands of Chileans took to the streets to demand government reform. The peaceful protest quickly devolved into violence as protestors hurled Molotov cocktails and debris at police who in turn fired tear gas and turned water cannons on the crowds. Two churches were burnt by protestors and five individuals were detained in connection with the arsons. As well, stores were looted, one of which was a supermarket. Archbishop Celestino Aós condemned the violence and stated that “The poor are the most affected” by the destruction that accompanied the open dissent.

The issue at hand is Chile’s constitution, which has not been updated since 1980 and was crafted under the far-right authoritarian dictator Augusto Pinochet. Critics of it, such as Fernando Atria, describe how the harsh neoliberal policies affect the very foundations of Chilean society. Last year, protests over the increased cost of living, privatization, and inequality, which were sparked over a transit fare hike, resulted in a fare evasion campaign by students. This snowballed into widespread takeovers of metro stations, including vandalism and arson, 81 stations suffered extensive damage and 17 were burnt down. President Sebastián Piñera declared a state of emergency and deployed the army to quell the violence.

This move only added fuel to the anger and on October 25, 2019, over one million took to the Chilean streets to demand that President Piñera resign. Thousands were injured and arrested in rallies and fracas with government forces, and on November 15, 2019, Chile’s National Congress officially called for a referendum. The referendum, to vote on whether Chile will write a new constitution, was initially slated to begin in April this year. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was delayed until October 25^th, 2020. Over 490,000 Chileans have been infected with COVID-19 so far, and initially when the pandemic began protests had decreased, and on April 3^rd, President Piñera visited Plaza Italia, a major epicenter for the protests, posing for photographs in the empty square and causing some critics to argue he was taunting the locked-down protestors.

However, despite the lockdown, the unrest continued and on May 1^st, 57 Chileans were arrested while protesting the government ban on groups of 50 or more. Demonstrations returned to Plaza Italia again on September 4^th, leading to clashes with government forces, resulting in 20 arrests. More than 100 were arrested following the September 11^th protest at Plaza Italia and smaller protests in the following weeks. On October 2^nd, an officer was arrested and now faces attempted murder charges for pushing a 16-year-old protestor from a bridge, where he suffered a concussion and fractured bones.

There has been significant criticism over the use of so-called ‘rubber bullets’ by government forces, which only contain 20% rubber, resulting in a projectile that is much harder and has caused a high number of ‘exploded eye’ cases. Each cartridge fires 12 pellets indiscriminately, and multiple NGOs are reporting that police are using these rounds with little regard for public safety, for example, in the first two weeks in 2019, 1.25 million pellets were fired at protestors. Some news agencies have gone as far as directly accusing police of aiming at individuals’ eyes. Amnesty International echoed these reports and went further stating that police and government forces are using ‘unnecessary and excessive’ force, with intent to hurt protestors. Human rights organizations have received reports of sexual assaults and torture.

In 2018, the OECD reported that Chile’s income inequality gap was 65% larger than their average and that Chile has one of the greatest gaps in the world between the richest and poorest 10% of the country, and with the COVID-19 pandemic showing little signs of abating, the economically desperate will face increased pressure. With this Sunday’s deadline for the referendum, many in Chile are holding their breath, waiting for what could be an onslaught of violence.