Violent Outbursts in Chile

The people of Chile are used to seeing police and demonstrators battling against one another. But what is one the rise and is shocking to many of the Chileans is the amount of people obtaining eye injuries from the shotgun pellets fired by state's security agents. What's ironic about this is that the police are supposed to be providing security and safety to the surrounding people, but these gruesome cases are contradictory to that. 




Protestors are fighting against inequality and want improvement amongst social services in the South American nation. 230 Chileans have lost their eyesight due to these shotgun pellets. The medical team is overwhelmed with the amount of ocular cases that they're having to deal with. Some individuals have lost their actual eye and will need a prosthetic one to replace it because of these violent outbursts. It seems that there is a divide amongst the nation and the people are outraged at some of the disadvantages the average Chileans are suffering with compared to those who are wealthier. The protesting began when subway fares increased; since then the Chileans have brought to the surface other problems that have been building up over the years. The protestors are now additionally fighting for "health care, education, the pension system and even the constitution, which dates back to 1980 and the military dictatorship." Apparently it's common for police to fire directly at the protestors, and the National Institute of Human Rights doesn't address the condemnation of violence that comes directly from the police but only advises against violence coming from the protestors. The use of weapons against the protestors have been limited to situations where the police personally are being attacked or have been limited to situations where the protestors are causing violence and need to be stopped. 
"I think it’s absolutely incredible that, after all these cases of lost eyes, immediate action has not been taken to ensure it doesn’t keep happening," said Ennio Vivaldi, rector of the University of Chile. People of Chile are outraged at the amount of injuries from the local police called Carabineros. 
It was stated in the article that police will begin using cameras on their helmets that way they have justification for when using their pellet guns. Although protestors have been mostly peaceful, there have been certain situations where they have built barricades and began throwing things and confronting police officers. Hopefully the cameras will be a clear indication of who is using these weapons as a source of protection and who is enforcing their power in an unjust way. 








https://apnews.com/c28a41899d9b4005aa2faf22637e150f
By: Nicole Bellino