Chilean police officer arrested over student's death during clash

A Chilean police officer was charged Tuesday over last week's death of a 16-year-old student who died from gunshot wounds during violent clashes that have gripped the nation over demands for education reform. The arrest of Miguel Millacura, a sergeant in the Carabineros (Chile's paramilitary police), came just two days after President Sebastián Piñera pledged to investigate the death of Manuel Gutiérrez.

Gutiérrez died early Friday after violent clashes had started the previous evening in the Santiago neighborhood of Macul following earlier demonstrations connected with a national strike. It was the first death reported during the two-month wave of protests over demands to restructure the educational system that has rocked the South American nation. "The government is doing everything necessary to shed light on the circumstances and find those responsible for that death," Piñera said at a public event.

The shooting occurred on the same day that Chile's main labor union, CUT (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile), held a nationwide strike in support of the students.

Witnesses say that the youth was pushing his brother in a wheelchair together with others when he was hit in the chest by a bullet allegedly fired by a Carabinero officer. "A Carabineros vehicle pulled up and they began firing. They shot three times and one of the bullets hit my brother and he fell to the ground. He kept telling me not to worry, that he was fine," said Gerson Gutiérrez, 22. The boy was taken to a hospital where he died hours later.

Millacura reportedly told his superiors that he had fired two shots in the air to scare off looters. He was immediately removed from the Carabinero force after ballistic tests showed that the bullet that hit Gutiérrez had come from his weapon, the Santiago daily El Mercurio reported.

Meanwhile, a planned meeting on Tuesday between student representatives and Piñera was called off. Piñera's chief of staff, Andrés Chadwick, said that there was no new date set to meet with the student groups. Piñera agreed to meet with the students following Gutiérrez's shooting. "After more than three months in which we've seen violence and conflict flourish, now is the time for peace, the time for unity, the time for dialogue, the time for agreements," he said.

Pinochet-era schools

The demonstrations over the past two months had been mostly peaceful before turning violent during the past few weeks. Students are demanding a host of changes to the country's Pinochet-era's privatization of the education system, including free bus passes. The pressure on Piñera's government began to build when the unions called for a 48-hour strike Thursday. An estimated 600,000 people participated in nationwide marches.Police offered no official numbers, but estimated far lower crowds in Santiago. The recent student boycotts have become Chile's largest mass movement since democracy was restored in 1991 when Pinochet lost an election bid.