Local television showed police using tear gas and water cannon to quell unrest on the streets of El Bosque, where poverty is high.
President Sebastián Piñera, in a televised address after the protests, pledged to get food to those in need.
Chile has more than 46,000 cases of Covid-19 so far, with 478 deaths.
A recent surge in cases prompted the national capital to go under a strict and total lockdown this weekend.