By EDUARDO GALLARDO
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 1, 2006; 2:28 AM

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Police for a second day used water cannons to scatter demonstrations by high school students that turned violent when masked protesters started throwing rocks Wednesday near downtown Santiago.

The clashes came a day after police violently suppressed student protests in the capital, with television images showing police beating at least three reporters. Police said at least 12 people were injured and more that 700 demonstrators arrested.

President Michelle Bachelet on Wednesday fired the commander of the Santiago riot police, Col. Osvaldo Jara, in response to Tuesday's clashes.

Police violence "was outrageous, unjustified," Bachelet told a brief news conference, standing alongside the president of Chile's Journalists Association, Alejandro Guilier.

The violence erupted Tuesday as more than 600,000 public school students took to the streets nationwide demanding reform in Chile's education law that give communities responsibility for public education. The students and many government critics says the system breeds inequality because of regional differences in available resources.

Other demands include elimination of an exit test that allows students to apply to college and free public transportation for poorer students.

The strike was supposed to last only one day, but the students decided to extend it through Wednesday. Police and students leaders blamed the second day of violence on masked individuals, who hurled stones at police and passing cars. Both sides called them infiltrators.

Bachelet said she agrees on the need to change the education law, which was issued by former dictator Augusto Pinochet the day before he left power in 1990.