Dozens Blinded by Chile Police in Violent Crackdown on Protests
- Human-rights groups investigate actions of security forces
- Anger threatens to impede President Pinera’s plea for peace
Dozens of Chileans have been partially blinded by rubber projectiles and gas canisters that police and soldiers fired into crowds of protesters -- maimings that threaten to destroy what little common ground is left in a nation racked by the worst civil unrest in a generation.
More than 140 people have suffered eye injuries since protests started Oct. 18, human-rights advocates say. At least 26 have completely lost vision in one eye, according to the Salvador Hospital ophthalmology unit in Santiago, and many others still are being treated. The toll far exceeds similar injuries in recent protests in Hong Kong, Spain, Lebanon and France, and has prompted investigations by the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights and advocacy groups.