Chile: pandemic highlights health crisis as lockdown halts inequality protests
Coronavirus arrives against backdrop of unresolved social tensions that fueled last year’s explosion of protests
For six months, Chile was shaken by a wave of protests in which millions took to the streets to protest against inequality. Residents of the capital, Santiago, grew accustomed to the raucous crowds thronging the main square to sing and chant against the government.
Now, with parts of the capital on coronavirus lockdown, wind rasps through an empty Plaza Italia as a handful of shoppers hurry past security forces enforcing the stay-at-home order.