It was Friday afternoon when Chilean President Sebastian Pinera decided to do something off the cuff, something that often gets him in trouble.
On his way home from his office at the Moneda Palace in Chile's capital, Santiago, he ordered his driver to make an unscheduled stop at Plaza Italia, unofficially renamed Dignity Plaza by millions of Chilean protesters.
For nearly five months, this route home had been absolutely off-limits to Pinera. Every day from October 18 and up until a couple of weeks ago, the plaza was ground zero for demonstrations to demand social reforms. Many protesters lost their eyesight from pellet wounds and thousands were injured as riot police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds.
