- Blind lives. 300 one-eyed in Chile: "He arrived without eyes and crying blood"
The head of the Carabineros de Chile, General Mario Rozas, announced on Wednesday the suspension of the use of the controversial pellets that have used their forces and that have left dozens of people injured in the eyes generating a huge controversy in a country hit by the biggest political crisis that suffers since the return of democracy.
According to Rozas, the security forces have decided to be "prudent" and limit the use of this controversial method of deterrence for occasions where "imminent danger of death" is attended by following the same regulations that apply to the regulatory firearms of uniformed.
The Medical College of Chile had counted up to 272 cases of people injured in this way until November 18 and had demanded the immediate suspension of recourse to this ammunition.
The performance of the uniformed since the popular protests began on October 18 has generated an avalanche of criticism.
General Aldo Vidal, a senior official of that institution, replied days ago to those who accuse his subordinates of "indiscriminate use of force" saying that "it is far from being so." "It is very difficult that police can contain a violent mass and that one way or another is not collateral damage. The vast majority who received a shot was in a place that did not have to be," he added.
Vidal clarified that the intervention units that are being used in these serious altercations do not have enough elements to counteract the presence of tens of thousands of protesters.
"The carabineros have barely been able to comply, much of the demands. Now, that they have not been in all the events, that is in sight and they have not been because they cannot, because they are not capable," he said.
The so-called social outbreak has resulted in repeated incidents of looting and fire, where groups of radicals have participated. The presence of cliques that exhibit anarchist paraphernalia is well visible in popular mobilizations.
According to local media, at least one person was shot in the middle of several confusing incidents in which agents' vehicles were assaulted with stones and sticks by opponents . A video released on social media on Tuesday allowed to see how a police car of the police was assaulted by young people who threw all kinds of objects, causing serious damage to the car and one of its occupants. Another patrol of agents was attacked on Wednesday in the center of the capital.
The gunshot wound is a dance student and her case caused a nth congregation in front of the hospital where she was treated. There, several dozen people raised banners like the one that said "(Sebastián) Piñera (the president), your hands have blood" or "All the bullets are going to come back".
The president of the Federation of Students of Chile, Emilia Schneider , said that now "the police officers shoot bullets, not pellets, or pellets ... bullets against people who manifest themselves unarmed."
"We demand the reform of these forces that have not been touched since the dictatorship (of Augusto Pinochet) and that continue to act in the same way," he added.
The attacks on buildings, private businesses and even military installations have continued despite the agreement for a possible reform of the constitution adopted on the 15th, especially in the southern provinces. The same air force again reported on an assault against one of its positions in the town of Iquique, where opponents came to burn the barracks of a barracks. The military had warned the day before that they would respond in "legitimate defense" if such incidents happened again.
The protests have left 23 dead, about 7,000 detainees, and some 2,400 protesters and 1,000 police officers injured , according to data compiled by Reuters.
At the same time, the crisis is causing a growing division within the entire political class that affects both the left and the right-wing official alliance, unable to achieve a common position to face this mess.
A group of leftist deputies on Tuesday filed a constitutional accusation against the president, Sebastián Piñera, for his alleged responsibility for human rights violations committed by state agents in the course of the social outbreak.
Piñera himself replied today that "it is an accusation that has no basis." "What the country needs is peace, unity , agreements and solutions to the problems of Chileans," he added.
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