Contentious demonstrations have been recurrent in Chilean history. Although heavily studied, scholars have left aside the analyses of the violent confrontation between hooded persons [the encapuchados] and the police, which usually acquires a peculiar centrality in most of the demonstrations. This persistent action invites us to reflect on it in symbolic terms. This paper pretends, through participant observation, to advance in a performative understanding of this phenomenon, proposing an interpretation of hooded action as a ritual, since it reveals fundamental cultural values through the performing of a complex sequence of symbolic acts.