Santiago, March 12 (RHC) – Students clashed with riot police in Chile’s capital Santiago during protests that marked the second anniversary of conservative President Sebastian Pinera took office on Wednesday.

The tense day of protests lasted from Wednesday dawn until the early hours of Thursday.

The protests coincided with the 30th anniversary of Chile’s return to democracy after Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 dictatorship.

Both in Santiago and in dozens of cities throughout the country, the protests centered on the demands for the resignation of the president, whose administration is rejected by more than 80 percent of the population and has barely 10 percent support according to all the polls.

Fueled by outrage at Pinera and the Chilean elite that controls most of the country’s wealth, the South American nation has seen since October its worst social unrest since the transition to democracy in 1990.