Colombia’s defense minister said Friday that three people were killed and 272 were injured after unrest that followed Thursday’s peaceful national strike.
According to Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo, two people were killed in Buenaventura and one person was killed in Cali.
Medellin students said Thursday that one of their fellow-students was killed after an attack by riot police unit ESMAD, but this was not confirmed by the minister.
Medellin police attack students hours after mayor praises peaceful anti-government protests
Trujillo said that the military would take part in police activity in 35 localities, but did not specify which.
The defense minister claimed that the majority of people who were injured were members of the security forces. According to Trujillo, the violence that erupted after the strike injured 148 soldiers, three policemen and 122 civilians.
Most civilians were only slightly injured or badly affected by tear gas, according to the minister.
Trujillo also said that 98 people were arrested and 53 raids were carried out.
The Inspector General announced investigations into the Police and prosecution on Thursday after a judge ruled that the majority of raids carried out before the peaceful marches were illegal.
The National Police opened internal investigations in the capital Bogota, and in the city of Manizales, Cali and Cartagena after complaints of the use of excessive force, according to Trujillo.
The minister did not mention the excessive force used by ESMAD officers in Medellin.
According to Trujillo, “our public force will continue to act to ensure the peaceful and democratic exercise of Colombians to freely express themselves as befits the nature of the regime of freedoms, under the leadership of the President of the Republic. We will persecute the violent with the legitimate force of the State so that they have no space in Colombia.
Following up on unconfirmed conspiracy theories of his far-right party, Trujillo said he was not able to confirm the “infiltration of foreigners” in the violence.
