On October 18, 2019, protests erupted in Santiago, Chile, over a hike in the cost of public transportation. But the demonstrations quickly grew into more than that. Those in the streets demanded change—real change. They demanded more rights. They demanded a new Constitution.
Police cracked down with impunity. Videos went viral of riot police beating people in the streets. Chemical water guns. Shooting rubber bullets at point blank range. The number of the dead and wounded skyrocketed.
Throughout the protests, which would ripple on for almost 6 months, Chilean state security forces would cause more than 400 eye injuries to protesters in the streets. Many people would never see out of those eyes again. But some of them also found each other… and began to sew their lives back together, with music.
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