On August 18, the government offered a third proposal for ending the conflict; primary among the new means was a reduction of government-backed student loan rates to 2% APR. However, this proposal still has not placated the students, who held a massive march (100,000 marchers) on that date and another massive (estimates of attendance from 100,000 to 1,000,000) concert/protest on August 21.
August 24--25 protests
The Workers' United Center of Chile organized a nationwide two-day strike on August 24 and 25. During the strike, four separate marches took place in Santiago, as well as additional protests across the country. According to union officials, a total of about 600,000 people were involved in protests. On the 24th, upwards of three hundred people were arrested, with six police officers wounded in Santiago, where protesters constructed roadblocks and damaged cars and buildings. On the 25th, another 450 people were arrested with several dozen reported injured. In Santiago, police forces used tear gas and water cannons on protesters at the end of the demonstrations; earlier, some protesters had thrown stones and started fires. One person, 16-year-old Manuel Gutierrez Reinoso, later died from gunshot wounds to the chest; witnesses claim that he was shot by a police officer.
According to Claudio Urrutia, an official at the Workers' United Center of Chile, said that the Chilean government "is a right-wing government that has demonized social demonstrations [...] This government doesn't seek dialogue. We have to change the tax regime in this country." According to Labor Minister Evelyn Matthei, unions had refused to begin discussions with the government, and she was "working actively trying to resolve problems [...] in education and in labor and many problems that come from the past."
On August 31, the Education Committee of the Chilean Senate approved 4-1 a bill that would prohibit indirect or direct state support of for-profit educational institutions, a fundamental demand of the student movement.