In this aerial view, thousands of people protest in Santiago. PHOTO: Pedro Ugarte/AFP

The ongoing protests in Chile took a form on Friday afternoon when more than one million Chileans took people stormed the Chile capital city, Santiago’s streets.

This was a remarkable day in the protests as the capital was brought to a standstill after a week of widespread and at times violent unrest over inequality.

The last time a similar protest took place in the city was in 1988 when a march was staged against the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

“This is really emotional, the fact that we are all together, this is a very new thing for Chile,” Camilo Godoy, surrounded by chants of “Oh, Chile Desperto” (Chile woke up) told Aljazeera.

“Finally people have woken up,” Godoy said.

Friday’s marches were the climax of weeklong unrest sparked by a student protest over the rise in Santiago’s metro fares.

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The student campaign catalysed into countrywide protests, with people furious over inequality and the nearly complete privatisation of healthcare and education, the high cost of public services such as transport, on top of low wages and poor pensions.

Throughout the afternoon the streets leading up to Plaza Italia, the heart of Chile’s demonstrations, filled with people and the sounds of banging pots and pans (the traditional cacerolazo protest).

People of all ages and classes joined together to the beat of pans and drums. Music groups started impromptu concerts in different areas of the streets, squeezed between thousands of other demonstrators dancing and jumping in unison, according to Aljazeera report.

“The dictatorship divided us, but here you can see everyone, Mapuche [indigenous group], feminists, migrants, sexual diversity, young children. It’s everything. No one is missing today,” Godoy added.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Friday night said he had “heard the message” of demonstrators.

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He tweeted: “The massive, joyful and peaceful march today, where Chileans ask for a more just and supportive Chile, opens great paths for the future and hope. We have all heard the message. We have all changed. With unity and help from God, we will walk the path to a Chile that’s better for everyone.”

Pinera and his cousin, Interior Minister Andres Chadwick, have been heavily criticised over the handling of the unrest, which has seen at least 19 people killed, and more than 3,100 detained.

Many peaceful demonstrations were heavily repressed by armed forces, while military-enforced curfews remain in 12 regions.

The sight of the military on the street also brought back painful memories to a country that lived under a brutal dictatorship for 30 years.

“I hope this will be an opportunity to review the big injustices they have never addressed,” Cristin Correa, a senior expert at the International Centre for Transitional Justice told Aljazeera.

“Our political system over the last 30 years has been musical chairs, we have a tendency to be governed by elites that are out of touch, but now there is a generation that is not willing to go along with that,” Correa told Al Jazeera.

As night fell, hundreds of motorbikes sped through Santiago, beeping horns and revving engines. Onlookers cheered and waved, as the sky turned a deep pink with the setting sun.

“I feel happy because I feel we can build a new just society,” said 55-year-old protester Luis Solis. “This is Chile’s spring.”

Vanguard News Nigeria.