This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

The Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, has called for modest rises to low incomes and increased taxes on the rich after the fifth night of anger on the streets raised the death toll in the unrest to 15.

Rioting, arson attacks and violent clashes wracked Chile on Tuesday night. About half of the normally stable country’s 16 regions remained under an emergency decree and some were subject to a military curfew, the first since Chile returned to democracy in 1990, barring natural disasters.

Riot police used teargas and water cannon on Tuesday to break up marches by rock-throwing demonstrators in several parts of the capital, Santiago, while soldiers and police guarded Chileans who formed long lines at supermarkets.

Carmen Fuentealba, who is retired, said: “I’ve walked several kilometres searching for milk, but the supermarkets remain closed and neighbourhood stores have run out.”

Many shops, subway stations and banks were burned, damaged or looted during protests over the weekend.

Piñera, a billionaire and former airline owner, said earlier this week that Chile was “at war with a powerful, relentless enemy”, but switched to a more conciliatory tone after he was widely rebuked.

He met members of his administration and three of the six main opposition leaders on Tuesday to explore a “social agreement” on solving “the problems that affect Chileans”.

Hours later, Piñera called for increasing the lowest monthly pensions from $151 (£118) to $181, raising the monthly minimum wage from $413 to $481, and rescinding a rise in electricity rates scheduled to take effect next month. The proposals also included a tax increase for anyone earning more than $11,000 a month.

Unrest began last week when a rise in subway fares led to students jumping over station turnstiles in protest. But the defiance exploded into violence on Friday, with demonstrators setting fire to subway stations, buses and a high-rise building.

Demonstrations then escalated to include demands for improvements in education, healthcare and wages, and spread nationwide, fuelled by frustration among many Chileans, who feel they have not shared in the country’s economic progress.

Shortly before the rioting broke out last week, the conservative Piñera told the Financial Times that Chile “looks like an oasis” in the region because it has a stable democracy and a balanced and growing economy that has been creating jobs and improving pay.

But wealth is unevenly spread and Chile has one of the region’s highest rates of inequality. Many Chilean families earn between $550 and $700 a month.