Violent police repression mixed with President Michelle Bachelets bizarre assertion that the right to protest still exists in Chile has been the governments response to the national Unitary Workers Council (CUT) day of protest against neoliberalism, held on August 29. Claims by the governing Socialist-Christian Democrat alliance to be politically centre-left now look weaker than at any point in its 16-year reign, given its incapacity to address the underlying political and economic causes that lead to the CUT protest.