Protests against police brutality leave several dead, hundreds injured in Bogota

USA Topics

Issued on:

Demonstrators took to the streets for a second night in Colombias capital Bogota on Thursday to press ahead with protests against police brutality that have erupted in violence and taken nine lives so far.

Advertising Read more

The demonstrators were protesting the death this week of law student Javier Ordonez, 46. A widely-shared video filmed by Ordonezs friend showed the father of two being repeatedly shocked with a stun gun by police. He died later in a hospital.

Some 300 protesters gathered once again Thursday afternoon outside the police station in Villa Luz, where Ordonez was taken before his death and which was heavily damaged on Wednesday.

“How many are you going to kill today,” screamed barista Alejandra Pulido, 25. “The authorities that should protect us are killing us!”

“Pigs, pigs, pigs!” chanted the crowd, as police officers with riot shields stood in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary.

A number threw stones at the assembled police while others spray painted graffiti on their riot shields.

Bogota: several killed, dozens of police stations burned down in protests

Since the protests started Wednesday in Bogota and satellite city Soacha, at least nine people have been killed while hundreds of civilians and police officers have been injured.

Bogota Mayor Claudia Lopez said people should return to their homes by evening, to ease tensions.

“Although there is no curfew in Bogota, we ask that by no later than seven oclock, all those who can, please stay at home,” Lopez said in a Facebook Live broadcast.

Yet as seven oclock approached demonstrators threw rocks and bottles at police, attacking the windows of the station with an uprooted road sign and setting the front of the post briefly alight.

Police responded with tear gas and flash-bang grenades, sending protesters running.

Over 60 people suffered gun-related injuries, the mayors office said. Lopez compared the unrest to the worst days of Colombias armed conflict.

For those wondering what's happening in Colombia/why #ColombiaLivesMatter is trending: Protests erupted today in Bogotá after a viral video showed two police officers beating and tasering a 44-year-old taxi driver to death on Tuesday. Here are some images circulating from tonight pic.twitter.com/QInojYajX1

— Miguel Salazar (@miguelxsalazar) September 10, 2020

The video of Ordonez shows him pinned to the ground by police officers and subjected to successive electric shocks early on Wednesday as he begs, “please, no more.”

Police say Ordonez was found drinking alcohol in the street with friends, in violation of coronavirus distancing rules. He was taken to a police station in western Bogota.

Two officers suspected of involvement in the alleged abuse of Ordonez have been suspended pending an investigaRead More – Source

[contf] [contfnew]

france24

[contfnewc] [contfnewc]