Protesters in Chile's capital, Santiago, managed a technological feat that has captured the internet's interest and that nobody saw coming, taking down a police drone using only laser pointers.
Twitter | @netsecfocus
Dramatic Video Shows Protesters Ground A Police Drone Using Laser Pointers
About a month ago, Chileans took to the streets to protest rising public transit prices.
Reddit | dorinacho
That protest escalated to encompass the public's discontent with rising inequality across the board. Protesters have demanded social reforms and a new constitution.
Government authorities have been hard pressed to keep the peace, with battles and fires breaking out almost daily since the protests began. At least 17 people have died and more than 7,000 arrested during the protests, The Guardian reported.
One of the more unexpected features of the protests has been the presence of green laser pointers.
With police being accused of purposefully blinding protesters by firing projectiles into their eyes — Chile's main medical body claimed that at least 230 people have been blinded that way, according to the NY Post — protesters have sought ways to return the favor.
For example, when police helicopters fly overhead at night, protesters have been shining their laser pointers en masse at them.
Just check out the video below, taken from the cockpit of a police helicopter over a group of protesters. Note that it's not easy to watch for an extended period of time.
So, when a police drone flew overhead one night, the protesters decided to do the same to it that they would do to a chopper.
This time, amazingly, the concentrated attention from the laser pointers managed to bring it down. It's little wonder the internet has been so fascinated with this video.
The question everybody is trying to figure out now is, how?
A few theories have been floating around.
As Interesting Engineering reported, the main theories are that the 40-50 laser pointers melted the plastic on it, that it was grounded by the pilot when they couldn't see through the camera anymore, or that the drone auto-grounded as a failsafe.
Another video taken that night showed that the drone's controller did indeed ground it on purpose. You have to think it would be nearly impossible to operate with all of those lasers dazzling its camera!
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