Over a million turn out in Santiago as protest momentum builds in Chile

Young and old join hands for better pay, pension, health care, education; Truckers jam roads; govt building in Valparaiso evacuated after a group tries to force way in

More than a million people poured into Santiago’s public squares and thoroughfares on Friday afternoon in one of the biggest street protests ever seen in the Chilean capital.

Downtown areas such as the iconic Plaza Italia came alive with people, mainly student-age and twenty-somethings but also older people and families, waving flags and banners seeking better pay, pensions, health care and education. Many of those who participated in neighborhood protests earlier in the week opted to join the downtown demonstrations Friday, which were organized on social media via the hashtag #LaMarchaMasGrandeDeChile (Chile’s biggest march).

“We need a new social pact, a new