Updated

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Students and police are battling in the streets in Chile, with riot police using water cannons, tear gas and officers on horseback to break up flaming barricades.

It's a chaotic scene in Santiago, where authorities consider Thursday's marches by high school and university students to be illegal.

President Sebastian Pinera has offered a package of reforms to students who have been striking for weeks to demand changes in Chile's underfunded public education system. But the students refused to sit down with him at the presidential palace, holding out for more.

Hundreds of protesters are trying to maintain flaming barricades, and some are throwing rocks at police vehicles and buses.