In Bogotá, Medellín and Popayán, hooded men threw stones, Molotov cocktails and fireworks at members of the police riot squadimplicated in several cases of abuse of force during the demonstrations that shook the country between April and June of last year.
The soldiers responded with stun bombs, non-lethal ammunition and tear gas. At the state-owned National University of Bogotá, a protester was injured in the eye and several young people were detained, AFP reporters confirmed.
The protest against the outgoing Duque government came a month before the first round of elections in Colombia to designate his successor.
the leftist opponent Gustavo Petro He is the favorite in all the polls. On the eve of the day there was a division among his political squires about the advisability of the demonstrations.
“No march has been called for today. Any violent act and excesses will be the action of a criminal strategy of the right to accuse Gustavo Petro and affect elections,” Wilson Arias, senator-elect for the leftist coalition, warned on Twitter. Historical Pact.
Although part of the coalition joined the day, the workers’ unions and the educators’ unions that in 2021 led the protest against Duque, remained on the sidelines.
A year ago, what began as a protest against a plan to raise taxes in the midst of a pandemic in Colombia turned into a social outbreak with mobilizations, road blockades, and bloody daily clashes between civilians and the security forces. Faced with popular rejection, Duque withdrew from the tax project.
According to a report from the UNat least 46 people died in clashes last year, 44 civilians and two policemen.
Research by the NGO Human Rights Watch indicates that the security forces are “responsible” for at least 25 homicides.
Colombian activists, on the other hand, put the number of fatal victims of the repression at almost 80.
The Duque government maintains that the protests were infiltrated by armed groups that finance themselves from drug trafficking and accuses that the road blockades caused millionaire losses in the fourth largest economy in Latin America.
Source: Ambito
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