As COP25 proceeds in Madrid, Chile Leads Police Raid on Public University

Late yesterday the Carabineros de Chile raided the Universidad de la Frontera – Temuco (UFRO). This at the same time that Chile has continued to preside over the global climate talks in Madrid.

As the rise of youth activism is celebrated at COP25 the contrast between word and dead by the presiding nation of the meeting could not be made more stark.

The report accompanying our receipt of the above photo and the video below is that the students from UFRO had been holding a demonstration denouncing the way in which the police target and attack first aid workers and first responders during street protests.

And what was the response to the protest? A raid of the campus by the Carabineros to quell the protest and clear out student organizing spaces. After several hours the police abandoned the campus, but only after a massive show of force that is clearly intended to intimidate, injure and otherwise squash ongoing student organizing.

The questions remain: is this the behavior of a supposed global climate leader? Is this the way that youth who are fighting for their future are offered a seat at the table? Will the COP25 in Madrid continue to greenwash the abuses in Chile? To what degree is the climate “emergency” being leveraged by the global elite to maintain status quo politics and economics?

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