Chilean students to press demand for education reforms

Thousands of Chilean students took to the streets on Thursday despite heavy rain to demand free education and call for an end to for-profit schools, rejecting the government's latest plan to resolve the education crisis. The protesters poured into Plaza Los Heroes in downtown Santiago. There were no reports of violence in Thursday's march. Similar protests also took place in other major cities of the country. The students marched through the heavy rain to press their demands for deeper education reforms after the government annouced a new proposal aimed at ending three months of protests across the country. The latest plan would extend grants and loans to 60 percent of the neediest students, up from 40 percent, and lower the average interest rates on loans from 5.3 percent to 2 percent. The students, however, call the plan "empty" and demand free access to higher education for at least 70 percent of the country's population. The students are also skeptical about the government's efforts. Giorgio Jackson, president of the student federation at the Catholic University, said the government "wants messages to be sent through the press, which means they're not interested in a dialogue." Nearly 1,900 protesters have been arrested and some 260 police officers and 36 civilians injured in clashes since nationwide demonstrations broke out three months ago.