Students in Chile have been holding nationwide demonstrations to demand free and quality education for all, accusing President Sebastian Pinera of shutting his ears to their demands.<br /><br />Violent confrontations between masked protesters and police marked the first of the two-day national protest called by students and supporters.<br /><br />Students are now preparing to take to the streets in mass protests on Wednesday, calling for radicalisation of their movement in a country where decent education has become a tough proposition for a major section of the population.<br /><br />University and secondary school students have skipped their classes with the belief that this unprecedented movement is worth the sacrifice, to make Chile - the so-called Latin American success story - a country where equal opportunity is more than just a slogan.<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman reports from Santiago.
