Chile impunity fears as riot officer who blinded protester walks free

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 acquittalOn 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. .