Chilean President Sebastian Piñera has resigned in the face of the sometimes violent mass protests in the South American country. Piñera denied the question of his resignation in an interview with the British BBC. At the same time, he acknowledged a shared responsibility for the problems in Chile, which had "accumulated for 30 years" (read more about the problems in the country here).
Piñera's popularity rating has dropped to 13 percent, the lowest level ever for a head of state since Chile's return to democracy in 1990, according to a recent survey by the Cadem Institute. At the same time, 87 percent of respondents were in favor of changing Chile's constitution. This dates back to the time of the dictator Augusto Pinochet, who ruled the Andean state between 1973 and 1990.
The anti-government protests in Chile began just over three weeks ago. Tens of thousands of people gathered in the center of Santiago de Chile and demanded the resignation of the conservative president, who was sworn in for his second term in March 2018. At the end of October, a rally in the capital attracted a million people.
20 killed in protests - riots continue
According to the prosecutors, 20 people were killed during the protests. Also in the past night it came to riots. The police used tear gas and water cannons against the demonstrators. A policeman was hit in the face by a Molotov cocktail.
In the midst of the demonstrations, a serious earthquake of magnitude 6.0 occurred in northern Chile, which could be felt right into the capital. About injured initially nothing was known.
Until late at night the sound of cars could be heard, demonstrators also used pans and pots to make noise. For the first time protesters also erected street barricades. There have been reports of looting and vandalism in the cities of Viña del Mar, Valparaíso and Concepción.
