POLICE in Chile have murdered a 14 year old boy as the South American country rises up against neoliberalism.
With the long-running student protests against privatised education being supported by trade unions in a two-day general strike, hundreds of thousands were out on the street.
And while neoliberal states are keen to support rebels against their own enemies abroad, they all react in the same traditional fashion to dissent at home - with murderous police violence.
Sky News reported that the teenager has been identified as Manuel Gutierrez, who was shot near a security barricade - witnesses have confirmed that police were to blame.
It added: "On Thursday, youths blocked roads, threw rocks and set fire to piles of rubbish in Santiago and other cities to block traffic. Some 600,000 were reportedly involved in protests across the country.
"Police used water canons and tear gas to defuse the latest social unrest against conservative billionaire Pinera's policies."
With tensions already so high in Santiago and beyond and with Sebastian Pinera the most unpopular ruler since General Pinochet, it is not clear what effect the teenager's death could now have on a volatile and potentially revolutionary situation.
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