Around 600,000 secondary school students took to the streets on Tuesday to reinforce their demands, which included free university examinations, free student passes and free transport on city trams.

    The Education Minister Martin Zilic met with the leaders of the National Assembly of Secondary School Students on Tuesday to hear their demands.

    The exams currently cost 19,600 Chilean pesos (37.69 U.S. dollars), student passes cost 2,600 pesos (5 dollars), and a student tram fare is 120 pesos (23 cents).

    Other demands, which included reform to the country's education law passed during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, were more complex and would require parliamentary approval, the government said.

    About 400 students were arrested in Santiago on Tuesday as the demonstrations had lead to clashes between protestors and police, local media reported.

    The students, who had begun the demonstrations peacefully, reacted aggressively when police used tear gas to disperse them, the report said.

    Chile had not seen student protests on such a scale since the early 1970s, the report added. Enditem