A community in northeast Bogota have attacked the police for protecting a man who they wanted to lynch for the alleged raping of an 11-year-old girl, El Espectador reported Monday.
Up to 70 officers were eventually present at the scene in El Codito, northeast Bogota, after there were initially insufficient numbers to calm the situation.
The anger of local residents over the suspected child molester, as well as the protection afforded him by police, soon generated riots that saw the authorities attacked with rocks.
Two police officers and two civilians, one of them a minor, were injured in the clashes that ultimately necessitated the arrival of a tank.
The accused man remains in custody where his alleged crime will be investigated.
The riot comes only a few days after the police protection of another alleged rapist prompted distubances in Cundinamarca that left five people injured.