Buenos Aires, Argentina – Jonathan Navarro, 33, can pinpoint the exact moment his life changed forever. The moment constantly replays in his mind — and it was caught on video.

It was nearly 5:30pm on March 12, and a group of pensioners were staging their weekly protest in front of Argentina’s imposing Congress building, its green-tinged bronze dome looming overhead.

Hundreds of demonstrators had joined the retirees to denounce cuts to government benefits and call for an increase in pensions.

Navarro was one of them. He had travelled from San Martin, on the outskirts of the capital Buenos Aires, to protest on behalf of his father, a retiree who is struggling to afford his medication.

“I watched on TV how the police were beating pensioners every week. I couldn’t just stand by and keep watching. I had to do something,” Navarro told Al Jazeera.

Tensions had been escalating for hours on that warm Wednesday afternoon. Normally, the weekly protests were small, but this one was larger than usual. Even rival football fans had shown up to support the retirees.

As the afternoon stretched on, government forces accused the protesters of violating the security perimeter. They began using force — including tear gas and rubber bullets — to disperse the crowds.

First, Navarro felt a searing sting on his leg. A rubber bullet had struck him.

Then came a blast of light and a sudden burning sensation across his face that made time feel like it was standing still. Blood began running down one of his cheeks, followed by a rush of pain. He had been shot again.

The tear gas in the air made it difficult to breathe. Deafening shouts came from every direction. Shots were still ringing out as two of Navarro’s friends grabbed him by the arms and rushed him to an improvised first aid station in a building a block away.

But Navarro’s injuries were too serious to treat there. He was taken to a hospital that evening, where, after a long surgery, doctors confirmed that the second bullet had permanently damaged his left eye.

He would never recover his vision.

“When the doctors told me, I just couldn’t believe what was happening,” Navarro said, sitting at the kitchen table in his home in San Martin.

“I went to the protest because I wanted to fight for my father and other pensioners, and what we found were police officers shooting tear gas and rubber bullets like it was a war. They could have killed me.”