Riot police used water cannon and unleashed teargas in the capital, Santiago, and street skirmishes between students and the police continued into the late afternoon.

In the central government district statues were destroyed, barricades set ablaze and the main thoroughfare littered with concrete, glass and the rinds of thousands of lemons used to ward off the effects of the teargas.

The strike was an attempt by the Central Workers Union and Socialist party to increase their influence within the ruling centre-left coalition.

Chile's president, Ricardo Lagos, warned government workers who went on strike that they would be fined. He called the strike "a lost cause".

The interior minister, Jose Insulza, said "the full force of the law" would be brought down against protesters who vandalised public property and attacked police.

While Chile has signed free trade agreements with the EU and US, making its economy one of the world's most open, workers' rights are routinely abused.