On October 14, 2015 members of CONFECH gathered at Plaza Italia in downtown Santiago and marched down Bernardo O'Higgins until they reached Echaurren Street. Due to increasing tuition and decreasing salaries, students and educators alike were advocating for structural changes surrounding Chile's for-profit education system that originated during the Pinochet Era. According to the Council of Hemispheric Affairs, Chile's current education system is "stratified" by socioeconomic status, making access to affordable education a contentious issue for today's youth. The U.S. Department of State's Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) released an official warning to American companies based in Chile about potential violence between the student protesters and the militarized police force.
As predicted, clashes between students and the carabineros gradually ensued. Known for retaliating harshly, the metropolitan police responded to paint bombs being thrown at their armored vehicles with water cannons against protesters. As mentioned in "Take Back the Streets: Repression and Criminalization of Protest Around the World," Chilean law enforcement officers using "less-than lethal" weapons against demonstrators exemplifies the publication's proposal to increase regulation of less-lethal weapons, whether they be water cannons or tear gas.
In accordance to Brooke Gladstone views on mainstream media bias in "The Influence Machine," Chilean journalists have been criticized for their minimal coverage surrounding the ongoing student protests and cases of police brutality. For example, the 2015 Freedom of the Press Index declared that self-censorship and political bias is common in Chile where the media tends to promote governmental economic interests in addition to what some may call "infotainment."