In an action dubbed “#EvasionMasive”, students began jumping Metro gates across the city on Monday, October 14th in protest of continued fare increases for the Santiago Metro and bus system. On October 6th, the Metro de Santiago raised the rush hour fare from $800 pesos to $830 pesos, the second fare increase this year, impacting both metro trains and buses. Student groups in the city proposed a week of evading the fare and called on university and secondary school students to jump payment gates on the Metro and refuse to tap “Bip!” cards on city buses; denying the Santiago Metro system revenue from a major constituency.
By Friday, October 18th, the situation spiraled out of control due to forceful police tactics, including the use of tear gas, riot shields and water cannons, and an escalation of violence from protesters, including pulling down Metro station gates, destruction of equipment, and setting fire to locked station entrances. At the height of the evening rush hour the entire Metro system was shut down, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to walk or rely on the city’s already beleaguered bus service to return home from the work and schools.
Bevacqua 