SANTIAGO, Chile ? Violence erupted on the streets of Chile's capital Tuesday as tens of thousands of students staged another protest demanding changes in public education.
Masked demonstrators burned cars and barricades, looted storefronts and threw furniture at police and some attacked an apartment building. Officers used tear gas and water cannons.
Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said the violence showed student leaders can't control their demonstrators.
Five days after a banned march ended in nearly 900 arrests, students and teachers marched peacefully in Santiago and elsewhere in Chile on Tuesday, calling for the government to increase spending on schooling and provide "free and equal" public education.
As in previous demonstrations, protesters danced, sang, wore costumes and waved signs. But then groups of masked protesters split off and tried to break through police barricades blocking the way to the presidential palace. Riot police drove them back.
University of Chile student president Camila Vallejos said 150,000 marched on sidestreets in the capital because the government again denied them permission to march on the main avenue. She said the huge showing so soon after Thursday's confrontations "reaffirms the level of approval we have and that the people keep supporting us. It's the government that isn't capable of conceding."
Police estimated 60,000 people marched.
As the day wore on violence spread. Hooded and masked activists threw rocks, paint, furniture and street signs at riot police who were backed by armored vehicles equipped with water cannons.
The unrest has gripped Chile for more than two months.
High school and university students have refused to attend class, taken over schools and staged demonstrations to press their demand for fundamental changes in how Chile finances public education. Of particular concern, they say, is that private universities enjoying nonprofit tax status aren't reinvesting their revenues in educational improvements as required by law.
The current system also leaves underfunded municipalities in charge of high school education nationwide. This has starved most schools of resources, while leaving some wealthy neighborhood schools well off. Chile's small upper class sends its children to private schools or even overseas for their education.
Teachers union president Jaime Gajardo reiterated the students' call for a national referendum on their demands, an idea that leaders of the governing center-right coalition have dismissed as unconstitutional and dangerous.
Santiago's regional governor, Cecilia Perez, said nine youths were arrested early Tuesday. Police didn't have figures yet for how many were detained later.
Student leaders called on supporters to keep up the pressure through the night with more pot banging protests known as "cacerolazos."
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