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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
John Bartlett in Santiago

Chile impunity fears as riot officer who blinded protester walks free

a man facing right
Gustavo Gatica, who was blinded by rubber bullets fired by police during protests in 2019, in Santiago, Chile. Photograph: Sofia Yanjari/The Guardian

On the evening of 8 November 2019, Chile’s capital was gripped by protests amid a wave of nationwide unrest. While thousands demonstrated peacefully in Santiago’s Plaza Italia, violence broke out down a side street on the fringes of the square, where riot police with rifles battled protesters.

Among them was Gustavo Gatica, a 21-year-old psychology student at the University of Chile, who threw a stone towards the police and stooped to pick up another. The last thing he saw was a line of advancing officers in the shadow of a tower block.

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