Argentines gathered in various locations throughout the country last night to express their frustrations with the administration of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Among the main demands were fewer restrictions on currency exchange, no to constitutional reform, easing trade restrictions, and a reduction of crime and general corruption. In Buenos Aires, people congregated at the intersections of Corrientes and Pueyrredón and Santa Fe and Callao and then descended to meet at Plaza de Mayo. While chaotic, emphatic, and noisy, there was no violence. Photographers Ande Wanderer, Beatrice Murch, Diego Espinosa, Madeleine Decker and Marc Rogers share their photos with you here.

Tens of thousands of people have joined anti-government marches around the country, with Argentines marching for “security, liberty, and justice”. The protests, known as cacerolazos, due to the tradition of banging pots and pans, began at 8pm in a number of cities.

The biggest demonstration took place in Buenos Aires, where marches started from different points around the capital, arriving at Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada where numbers are said to have topped 200,000, according to unofficial figures.

Banners could be seen which included demands against “insecurity” and the possibility of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner standing for re-election. There were also petitions for greater transparency in official statistics on things such as inflation, and the lifting of restrictions on access to dollars.

Protests also took place in the cities of Córdoba, Rosario, Mar del Plata, Bariloche, and Mendoza, among others.

The effort to mobilise Argentines into marching on 13th September began a number of weeks ago on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Chilean police are investigating the death of 27-year-old police officer, Cristián Martínez Badilla, after he was shot on the 1973 Coup Anniversary on Tuesday.

Badilla was shot while trying to prevent the looting of a supermarket in the suburb of Quilicura, Santiago.

President Sebastián Piñera said his government will do all it can to identify those responsible for the killing of Martinez, the father of a 3-week-old baby.

The officer died “defending our lives, our security, our tranquility,” said Piñera.

A suspect has been taken into custody and a .83 caliber gun revolver was recovered but the person detained denies responsibility for the killing. The fatal bullet entered through an opening in the officer’s protective vest.

The death of Badilla came alongside what turned out to be an extremely violent end to the 11th September ceremonies that mark the 1973 coup d’état in which Gen. Augusto Pinochet took power from former President Salvador Allende.

In total, one officer died, 26 people were wounded, and 255 people arrested, of which 83 are legally considered children.

Five public buses were set on fire and used as barricades against police by masked demonstrators in the streets of Chile’s capital city. More than 400 other public transport vehicles retained broken windows and other damage forcing the transportation agency to cancel service for more than a million people.

More than 58,000 homes were also left in the dark after hooded protestors threw chains onto power lines knocking out electricity in at least 12 of Santiago’s 35 districts. Looting was also a huge problem throughout the city.

Deputy Interior Minister Rodrigo Ubilla said in a press statement that the number of arrests had declined from previous years but violence has intensified, with more firearms being used than ever before. There was “a greater number of gunshots, of weapons, and we’re also concerned about seeing a greater number of young people in the streets,” Ubilla said.

Violence erupted on Tuesday in Santiago, Chile, as student protestors and police clashed during one of the largest marches in recent weeks.

According to protest organisers and police, between 50,000 and 130,000 people took to the streets some banging drums, while thousands of others followed the procession masked in black hoods.

The atmosphere at the beginning of the protest was optimistic and cheerful and the march ended in a concert. However, it quickly escalated into violence when some protestors started throwing sticks and stones at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons.

The protestors tried to protect themselves with giant wooden boards behind which they continued to throw objects at the police. Only a few protestors were reportedly arrested.

“It’s (the violent protestors) who are causing harm for everyone. Everything could have gone very well,” said 15-year-old student Javiera to AFP, as she looked on at the masked demonstrators mounted on a barricade.

Protest organisers say the violence at the rallies allows for authorities to criminalize the student movement, which enables them to divert the attention away from the students’ demands which include free and high quality public university education.

This protest also had the backing of the Unified Workers Federation (CUT), who called on members to join the march.

The protest came just two weeks after many students were forcefully evicted from occupying three schools in Santiago.

Students have been rallying in the streets for over a year demanding a reform to Chile’s national education system, which suffered from sharp cuts to its funding during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Now, it favours expensive private schools that are out of the reach of the poor.

Since 2011 only a handful of demonstrators have gone to court after more than 40 protests. The mass arrests that typically take place during these demonstrations have gathered international criticism from numerous human rights groups.

“I hope that at the end of the day, we speak of strengthening public education … and the end of profit [in private education],” said one of the leading student organizers, Gabriel Boric to AFP.

Taxi drivers have blocked the bus terminal, train station, and various other busy streets in La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires province, in protest of rising insecurity and robberies.

The city has been crippled by the cabs, which are causing traffic jams and stopping buses from entering or leaving La Plata.

The taxi drivers are arguing that more steps need to be taken in order to ensure safety during night shifts.

Recently there has been a string of thefts and attacks, some violent, against drivers.

Diego Gaitán was the victim of the most violent attack in which two criminals beat and robbed him. He has been in intensive therapy at a local hospital for 52 days.

“We were promised action but nothing has happened,” said Miguel Gómez, one of the drivers involved in the protest, to Infobae.

Drivers started the blockades early this morning and have continued at various hours throughout the day, at one point blocking the motorway to Buenos Aires.

The bus terminal remains the most affected, with passengers having to unload and take buses in the surrounding area.

The downtown area is also heavily backed up as drivers block strategic places to complicate the circulation of traffic.

Representatives of the drivers have scheduled a meeting with the head of the security department in order to discuss what can be done to improve safety.

Until anything is done however, they plan to continue protesting.

The streets of Mexico City are alive in protest, as thousands of dissatisfied voters continue to denounce Enrique Peña Nieto’s victory in this month’s presidential election.

Officials estimate about 30,000 turned up for Sunday’s protest, many of them young members of Yo Soy 132, a social-network influenced student movement that gained notable attention in this year’s campaigns.

Protestors, and supporters of runner-up Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD), accuse Peña Nieto of buying votes, laundering money and arranging favourable coverage via the Televisa network.

Peña Nieto, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, has denied the accusations.

Protestors marched to Mexico City’s main square, holding banners and chanting “Out with Pena” and “Fraud, Fraud.”

López Obrador has personally challenged the election results, announcing plans to invalidate Peña Nieto’s win at the Federal Electoral Tribunal. The tribunal must decide on the election’s validity by early September. Peña Nieto is due to take office on 1st December.

A final poll recount had Peña Nieto with 38.21% of the vote and López Obrador with 31.59%.

López Obrador made headlines in 2006 when he protested his loss to Felipe Calderón in the presidential election. The 2006 election’s margin of loss was 250,000 votes, versus this month’s margin of 3 million votes.

CHILE- Amidst escalating student protests, Chilean fishermen have joined the fray in opposition of a new fishing law, which they say will favour larger fishing companies.

Hundreds of fishermen have clashed with police in several coastal towns – riot police brought out tear gas and water cannons in order to break up demonstrations in Valparaiso where fishermen erected barricades out of burning tires.

The new fishing law defines fishing concessions and quotas that artisanal fisherman feel ill equipped to see through. It mandates the obligatory use of GPS by all boats and details ways of preserving stocks.

Last week the National Fisheries Service (Sernapesca) called for Chilean companies to prepare to meet the new requirements proposed by China for the export of fishery products for human consumption.

New international requirements brought out of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) propose new regulations for manufacturing establishments, registration of establishments, and modification of the current health certificate format used to export the products.

Zoila Bustamante, president of the Artisanal Fishermen’s Confederation (Conapach), said they were being forced to compete with industrial fishing vessels.

Many of the new laws are too expensive for small-scale fisherman to carry out.

The Fisheries Act, which is due to come into force in January, grants big companies 25-year concessions around fishing farms, serving as further fodder for the small-scale fisherman to point to when suggesting that the laws favour industrial fisheries.

Local fishermen want the government to create restricted fishing zones that grant them exclusive fishing rights.

The government has said that the new law will help to better regulate the industry, making it more sustainable.

The oil and natural gas exploration company Pan American Energy (PAE) ended its contracts with the companies Skanska and Contreras Hermanos today. Both these companies hired almost 1000 ‘Dragóns’, or workers of the Cerro Dragón oil field (the largest of its kind in Argentina) who have been picketing on a national highway in the province of Chubut, as part of a protest that began on June 21st.

The ‘Dragóns’ have been asking that PAE provide them with the same conditions and pay as they would to workers affiliated with the oil and gas workers union. Although they carry out many of the same tasks, the PAE rejects this possibility. In response, the ‘Dragóns’ began picketing on a national highway in Chubut and blocked the entrance of several oil fields in the area.

Officials stepped in yesterday to try to resolve the conflict between protesters and their employer. Federal Judge Eva Parcio ordered an eviction of the ‘Dragons’ from National Route 3, and Governer of Chubut Martín Buzzi tried to implement a conciliatory agreement between the protestors and PAE.

The PAE has responded today by cutting their contracts with the two companies responsible for hiring the ‘Dragóns.’ The company told La Nación that the decision was made because the two contracted companies did not comply with their responsibilities and did not protect PAE property and equipment during the protests. They affirmed, however, that the action taken today would “not affect the production of oil and gas.”

Representatives of the Dragóns said that the group would discuss this afternoon whether to accept the conciliatory agreement or not, and are still keeping some roads blocked. Guido Dickanson of the ‘Dragóns’ told El Ambito Financiero that for the conflict to end “they would have to give in to our demands, to solve the salary inequalities, to reincorporate those who were fired, and to not treat us like second-class workers.”

A 24-hours strike called for by the Argentine Workers’ Union (CTA) began today due to conflict between state workers and the provincial government. These workers reject Provincial Governor Daniel Scioli’s decision to split the bi-annual bonuses (usually paid in the state workers’ June salary) into four separate instalments.

After the CTA announced the strike, they were joined by workers from several other unions, including the Association of State Workers (ATE) of Buenos Aires, the Judicial Association of Buenos Aires, and the Labor Association of Health Professionals of the Province of Buenos Aires (CICOP). The CTA-led actions also include protests at the Casa de Gobierno in La Plata and at the Casa de la Provincia in the city of Buenos Aires.

Actions expressing workers’ discontent with Scioli’s decision are expected to continue during the next few days. The Teachers’ Union of the Province of Buenos Aires (UDOCBA) has announced that they will lead a 48-hour strike beginning tomorrow. Other public education workers, like those associated with the Federation of Educators of Buenos Aires (FEB) and the Union of Education Workers (SUTEBA) have announced a 24-hour strike on Friday.

Leader of the SUTEBA Roberto Baradal stated in an interview with Radio Mitre that workers do not want to “negotiate” with the provincial government, but rather “demand that [the government] change its mind and turn this decision around.” In a statement today, the Association of State Workers (ATE) announced that many workers had adhered to the strike, because “state workers are showing that they are fed up” and that actions would escalate if the government did not reverse their decision.

Dozens have been injured in Guatemala after a clash between students and police yesterday turned violent.

Over 50 injuries were reported in the capital Guatemala City, when students confronted Education Minister Cynthia De Aguila in front of the Parque de la Industria where she was presiding over an event.

Emergency workers said De Aguila had a panic attack and fainted, drawing out Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla to try to control the situation. Bonilla called riot police after the protesting did not stop.

Riot police were able to disperse the crowd but not without sending roughly 40 students to the hospital.

Bonilla was caught up in the clash and treated for an arm injury after an object was thrown at him while De Aguila was sent to the hospital after suffering the effects of pepper spray.

The protesters, who are studying to become teachers, object to changes that would see their program increase from three years to five. Demonstrations against the change started more than two months ago and still no agreement has been reached.

After yesterday’s violence, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina called a meeting to try to end the protests.