Gustavo Gatica lost his sight in 2019’s nationwide unrest but, with a far-right president about to be sworn in, the man who shot the rubber bullets has gloated over his acquittal
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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