Chile: Proposal to Curb Protesters.

President Sebastian Pinera sent a bill to Congress Tuesday night calling for a strengthening of Chile's penal code, a move aimed at further repressing large student protests that have led his government's popularity to plummet. The bill, which is expected to face a stiff challenge from the opposition Concertacion coalition, would set prison sentences of up to three years for anyone who occupied public or private institutions like schools or universities, and it would also penalize other forms of demonstration. Since May, students have occupied more than 200 institutions of learning. They are demanding a range of reforms, chief among them a return to widely available free public college education that existed before the 17-year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]