More than 15,000 people took to the streets
of Santiago to protest the HidroAysen project, which calls for building
five dams in Chile's Patagonia region.
The demonstrators
gathered Saturday in the Plaza Italia, the capital's epicenter, and
then marched along the Alameda, the city's main artery, until they
reached the La Moneda presidential palace.
The
marchers carried signs bearing statements supporting the protection of
Patagonia and opposing the HidroAysen project, which is being pushed by
Endesa Chile, a unit of Spain's Endesa and Chile's Colbun.
Also attending the protest were student associations and groups of
Mapuche Indians, who called for the release of four indigenous
prisoners who have been on a hunger strike for more than two months.
The leaders of Accion Ecologica, one of the entities that organised the
demonstration, estimated that some 100,000 people participated in the
march, although the police tallied the crowd at only about 20,000
people.
Protests have been staged regularly all over
the country since May 9 after a commission of government officials
approved the HidroAysen environmental impact study.
The megaproject, conceived in 2006, will require an investment of $3.2
billion and the flooding of 4,010 hectares in an area of great
environmental worth in Patagonia, and it is designed to generate an
average of 18,430 GW per hour. IANS
