Chilean right-wing government blinds people, people protest

This EPA [hoto from Chile shows, from left to right: demonstrator’s sign with photos of anti-austerity protesters who lost eyes to police and military violence; a demonstrator with eyepatch; a sign, saying (translated): The government authorizes the death of the people.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV:

In the Chilean capital Santiago, protesters have drawn attention to the crackdown by the police

Not just by police, also by the military for the first time since the fall of the Pinochet dictatorship.

in the country’s protest wave. They mainly expressed support for people who were shot at by the police and lost their eyes.

Some demonstrators marched wearing eyepatches in protest. Others showed pictures of people with eye damage. According to ophthalmologists, more than 200 people were blinded during demonstrations and fifty people had to get an eye prosthesis.

“In Chile, asking for dignity costs you an eye”, one of the banners says.

In the South American country it has been restless for forty days. Masses of people are angry about President Piñera’s policies and growing inequality. The police are cracking down and have arrested thousands of people.

Many people are said to have become blind because policemen fired bullets at them. Other eye damage was caused by tear gas shells.