SANTIAGO – The Baquedano metro station in central Santiago was forced to close on Monday, after dozens of people scaled turnstiles in protest of fare price hikes.
The price hike of CLP$20 ($0.033, €0.027) per adult ticket started on Monday on Metro and Transantiago services, prompting the Almas Libres [Free Souls] organization to call for a mass protest.
“Evading, not paying, another way of fighting” was the slogan of the call, which can hardly be validated as a legitimate protest.
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Videos show people evading the payment of their passage in response to the recent rise.
Many of them were carrying placards with the slogan “Ladrones”, which means “Thieves” in Spanish.
evasores en el metro Baquedano https://t.co/tyvz0q0gqd
— Gabo García (@gabogarcia) February 19, 2018
The demonstrations, which began in the sector of the station that corresponds to Line 1, then moved to the area of Line 5.
Due to the demonstrations, the Metro had to close the accesses to the station on Line 1.
Later, the Baquedano Metro station reopened its doors after making a partial closure due to the demonstration that was taking place inside.
Police were deployed at one of the entrances of the Baquedano station of the Metro de Santiago.
Currently, the underground train is operating normally.
Baquedano is a transfer station between the Line 1 and Line 5 of the Santiago Metro. It is located close to the eastern terminus of the Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O’Higgins.
