BBC Learning English
Words in the News

Chile school protests
28 June 2013

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Words in the News

© British Broadcasting Corporation 2013

Page 1 of 2

bbclearningenglish.com

The police in Chile have arrested 122 people, many of them children, in raids on 28

secondary schools that had been taken over by their pupils. The schools are due to be

used as polling stations in primary elections this weekend.

Gideon Long reports for the BBC:

The police launched the raids in the early hours of the morning, clearing away chairs and

tables that the pupils had used to barricade themselves inside. The students took over

the schools earlier this month as part of their two-year campaign for education reform.

But on Sunday, they'll be used as polling stations. Chileans are due to elect candidates

for November's presidential election. Many of those arrested in the pre-dawn raids are

children and are unlikely to be charged.

The police action followed a day and night of violence in Santiago, centred around a

student march. More than 100 people were arrested when the march ended in clashes

between youths throwing stones and Molotov cocktails, and police, who responded with

tear gas and water cannon. Ten police officers were injured.

The clashes continued overnight. Protesters set fire to a bus, gutting it completely. The

violence was among the worst in Chile in two years of protests against the centre-right

government of President Sebastian Piñera.

Words in the News

© British Broadcasting Corporation 2013

Page 2 of 2

bbclearningenglish.com

Vocabulary and definitions

raids

sudden and unexpected entries into a building by

police in order to arrest people

barricade

block (using a temporary structure)

education reform

changes to how and what students are taught

polling stations

places where people go to vote

pre-dawn

before sunrise

clashes

fights

Molotov cocktails

a simple type of bomb made with a bottle filled with

petrol

gutting it

destroying the inside

Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2013/06/130628_witn_chile_kids.shtml

Related story:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15431829