智利学生抗议，要求教育改革（在线收听） |
SANTIAGO, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Chilean students protested here outside the Education Ministry and some schools that will serve as polling stations early Tuesday, reaffirming calls for education reform ahead of presidential primaries. Nearly 50 middle-school and university students demonstrated outside the main entrance to the ministry as a large police contingent stood guard inside.
The move was to "reaffirm the demands, which are now being badly handled in these elections. They are confusing free education with scholarships, for example," said university students' spokesman Andres Fielbaum.
Isabel Salgado, spokeswoman for the Middle School Coordinating Assembly (Aces), demanded Education Minister Carolina Schmidt acknowledge their calls for education reform.
She called in a statement for continued struggle for free, quality public education and denounced both the ruling and opposition political parties.
"The two camps ... will never be able to resolve the demands of the social and student movement, since they only defend and side with the country's powerful economic sectors," Aces said.
On the same day, Chilean Defense Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter dismissed the possibility of resorting to the military to evict the protesters from the schools that are supposed to be voting stations during the presidential primaries slated for Sunday.
He discussed the matter with Interior Minister Andres Chadwick, and "the Ministry of the Interior will see to it with the police," Hinzpeter added.
Over the past week, student protesters have occupied and closed about 100 schools, demanding the overhaul of Chile's increasingly privatized education system. They have held several demonstrations in order to influence the upcoming primaries.
The Chilean government has warned that it will use all legal means, including evicting the students from the premises, to guarantee the primaries to take place as planned.
In the primaries, the ruling and opposition parties will pick their candidates for the presidential elections in November. |
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