Dozens blinded by Chile police in protest crackdown

Bloomberg

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 on October 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.
“Earlier, we got 10 people with these wounds in one hour, and after that they just kept coming,” said Mauricio Lopez, a unit doctor. “It was unbelievable. Nothing like that has ever happened in the history of eye medicine in Chile.”