Santiago: A Chilean prosecutor is seeking court approval to investigate 14 police officers for allegedly torturing protesters during almost three weeks of intense unrest and rioting in the country.

A demonstrator shouts slogans near a police vehicle near Costanera shopping mall in the business district of Santiago on Wednesday. Credit:Getty Images

The protests over deep-seated inequalities in one of Latin America's richest countries have been less violent in recent days, but show few signs of easing, with demonstrators gathering on Wednesday near a huge shopping mall in one of Santiago's more upscale neighbourhoods.

Santiago East prosecutor Manuel Guerra said his investigation was related to two separate incidents during a nine-day state of emergency in the capital from October 18.

One related to the actions of 12 police officers in Nunoa, a bohemian suburb of Santiago, where protesters defied a curfew to conduct successive nights of large but mainly peaceful demonstrations, a spokesman for Guerra said, without providing further details.