Chile condemns killing of 2 student protesters

Chile's government Thursday condemned the killing of two student protesters in the resort city of Valparaiso.

"The government condemns these acts and will file a complaint against whoever was responsible for ... the murder of these Chilean youngsters," Interior Minister Jorge Burgos said.

The students, aged 18 and 24, were reportedly shot dead by the son of a building owner as they were pasting a protest sticker onto a wall.

On Thursday, students demanding quality affordable education held massive street protests in the capital Santiago, where more than 150,000 students marched, and in smaller cities, such as Valparaiso.

Burgos said he had asked for a prosecutor to be designated "to investigate the death of the two young men as soon as possible."

"The government won't stand for actions of this type, the government guarantees the marches' freedom of movement," he said, stressing that "the alleged killer has no ties to the police special forces."

The incident is another blow to President Michelle Bachelet's government, which is already suffering from low approval ratings due to public-sector corruption scandals. Endi