Protest over natural gas prices turns deadly in Chile

Two women were killed and 34 people were arrested in a violent protest in the southern city of Punta Arenas over a planned hike in natural gas prices, authorities said Wednesday, AsiaOne News reported.

The women were killed late Tuesday when a pickup truck slammed into a barricade that had been erected by protesters.

Protests continued Wednesday in Punta Arenas, a city of 140,000 people some 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) south of Santiago.
Natural gas prices are heavily subsidized in the country's far south, which is cold most of the year.

Local union leaders had called a general strike in protest against the price hikes.

Starting February 1, the price of natural gas is supposed to rise 17 percent. But even with the planned hike, the local subsidized rate is eight times less than consumers pay in the rest of Chile.

Demonstrators have blocked the city's port and kept people from getting off cruise ships and other boats that make port calls on the way to Antarctica or around the Strait of Magellan.

Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said he thought the increase should be phased in more gradually.