The ‘Protest of all Protests’ Calls for Constitutional Reform in Chile · Global Voices
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The protest of all protests, Santiago de Chile. Image from @SorayaSM
With the slogan “The protest of all causes united”, more than 40 civil organisations [es] (with the exception of students [es]) gathered for the ‘Protest of all Protests’ [es] whereby more than a hundred thousand people met in Santiago to demand a new constitution by way of a constituent assembly.
The convocation of this event for Sunday, March 22, came from the necessity to unite the civil society, to make a petition to the government of Michelle Bachelet to change the current Political Constitution of Chile, which was promulgated during Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship. The constitution has been questioned for its content because it keeps alive ideological characteristics which can limit the democratic action of the current civil society.
The summons included a long list of requests, among them: the self-determination of indigenous peoples; free, quality education; a new labour code; rights for immigrants and migratory regulation; egalitarian marriage with child adoption; right to therapeutic abortion; a new drug policy; free, quality healthcare; rights for Chilean artists; Patagonia without dams; and fair peace.
The protest of all protests, Santiago de Chile. Image from @SorayaSM
Another of the petitions is a universal rights law. On that subject David Órdenes, coordinator of Movimiento Movilizándonos [es], told Global Voices that they are demanding a universal rights law focused more on children and young people, “so that from now on this society provides its children with what they need, because they are democracy and social actors… and therefore the protest of all protests has to do with the fact that we are thoughtful and making proposals.”
The massive protest played out peacefully until the end of the march, when confrontations with the police force took place.
Here are some tweets relating to the course of the day:
En la GIGANTESCA …Marcha de Todas las Marchas #marchadetodaslasmarchas pic.twitter.com/pdnMcbshAK
— Raúl Zorrilla Ovalle (@raulguillermo62) March 22, 2014
At the GIGANTIC …Protest of All Protests
En la #marchadetodaslasmarchas estaban las causas que caben en una constitución de todos y todas, hija de una #AsambleaConstituyente
— La desvergonzada (@eLe_enLetras) March 22, 2014
In the protest of all protests were the causes that fit into a constitution for all, daughter of a Constituent Assembly
[16:20] @Movilh cifra en 150000 personas las convocadas en Santiago tras #MarchaDeTodasLasMarchas (@raulguillermo62) pic.twitter.com/srogXdPgdT
— Grupo Wurtlitzer ™ (@GrupoWurtlitzer) March 22, 2014
[16:20] @Movilh [es] estimated 150000 people gathered in Santiago following the Protest of All Protests
A mi nadie me contó,yo estaba allí, había paz y llegaron los pacos con el guanaco sin haber provocación. #marchadetodaslasmarchas
— Nish (@DenisseNish) March 22, 2014
No one told me, I was there, there was peace and the cops arrived with the water cannons unprovoked.
You can view more tweets about the protest with the hashtag #lamarchadetodaslasmarchas.