This week's two-day national strike in Chile left one person dead, 1,394 arrested and 153 police officers injured, the authorities said Friday. The strike took place Wednesday and Thursday, with demands focusing on comprehensive reform of the country's education system and other social change. A 14-year-old boy was shot dead in a poor neighbourhood in south-eastern Santiago. His family claimed that he had been shot from a police patrol car.
The government said an investigation was ongoing, while police denied any involvement in the teenager's death. Demonstrations had been called by trade unions and student organisations. The authorities said a total 175,000 people took part in scores of rallies around the country, while organisers put the figure at 600,000. Employers and the government said participation in the general strike was low. Chilean students and teachers have been demonstrating regularly for three months to demand free public education in the country's largest protests since the end of Chile's military dictatorship in 1990.