(Image: Joshua Collins)
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Colombia’s anti-government protests: no police = no violence

by Adriaan Alsema

Colombia’s police appeared to fuel violence in cities where Colombia Reports and 10 freelance journalists monitored anti-government protests on Tuesday.

The violence left an unknown people taking part in initially peaceful protests injured and reporters witnessed that protesters came under fire in two of the four cities monitored by the so-called “#ColombiaProtests” journalist collective.

According to the director of the National Police, 22 people were arrested in the relatively short period that protests in multiple cities went from peaceful to violent.

8:00AM | Police goes on charm offensive

The National Police, which is suspected of killing at least 25 of the 74 people who were murdered during the protests, started Independence Day with a patriotic charm offensive.

8:15AM | All quiet in locked down center of Bogota

Bogota journalist Mauricio Vanegas reported that all was quiet in downtown Bogota where police closed entries to the central Bolivar Square where the capitol is located.

9:30AM | President Ivan Duque in Congress

Colombia’s President Ivan Duque commemorated those who died of the COVID-19 during the pandemic and praised his own response while inaugurating a new legislative year in the capitol.

9:50AM | “Massive participation” in Santa Marta protest

Press agency RPTV reports a “massive participation” in protests in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta.

10:40AM | Banners hung upside down

People throughout Colombia hung their banners upside down in protest of the human rights violations committed during Duque’s administration.

In Congress, where the president was formally inaugurating the new legislative year, opposition lawmakers also reversed the national banner.

10:50 | Drummers warming up Bogota protesters

Drummers are warming up gathering protesters in the capital Bogota.

10:55 | Cali protests on the way

Anti-government protesters gathered in the east of Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, for protests.

11:00 | Protests draw less people than those in May

Reporters in Bogota and Popayan said that Tuesday’s anti-government protests were considerably smaller than during their peak in May. They were also considerably calmer when police maintained a distance.

1:00PM | Pots instead of helmets

The announcement of Bogota’s police chief he would ban helmets and shields appears to have had no effect as people either ignored or defied the authorities.

1:45PM | Duque “like any pedophile priest”

Colombia’s President Ivan Duque received one of the fiercest insults on Tuesday when labor union leader Fabio Arias, one of the strike organizers, said the president was “like any pedophile priest. Preaches, but doesn’t practice.”

The president said he called to “reject the way of the lie and slander” after his defense minister and national police chief spent weeks falsely claiming that the protests were infiltrated by guerrilla group ELN.

2PM | First reports of clashes in Bogota

Spokesperson of the so-called Frontline protesters in Bogota reported the first attempts to crack down on protests in the northeast of the capital around 2PM.

What, if anything, triggered this police violence is unclear.

2:40PM | Medellin marches calm and less massive

While promoters of the anti-government protests claimed marches in Medellin were “massive,” images indicated that they were considerably smaller than in May after police brutality fueled even bigger protests.

2:45PM | Medellin marches suddenly turn violent

A fire that broke out near the main protest march in Medellin as the protesters arrived at the Mayor’s office triggered an almost immediate attack by the police who had been stationed there all day.

According to student news website Cero Setenta, the attack divided protesters into a group that sought to further provoke the ESMAD riot police unit and others shouting: “This is not the way. This is not the mission!”

Shots were fired after the protesters moved away from the administrative district where the police had been all day, according to Cero Setenta.

3:00PM | Military calls on Popayan protesters to end protests

From a helicopter, members of the military call on peaceful protesters to “end their protests peacefully” before a 4PM curfew that was imposed before the protests took force.

Before, soldiers were militarizing the city center while the protests were still entirely peaceful.

3:30PM | Statue of Colombia’s first president toppled

Protesters in Manizales toppled the statue of General de Paula Santander, Colombia’s first acting president after Spain renounced its claim on its former South American colony.

4:00PM | “Shit’s getting rough” in Cali as police attack peaceful protesters

Cali police suddenly began teargassing peaceful protesters at “Puerto Resistencia,” where protests had been entirely peaceful all day. Whether the attack was provoked is unclear.

 

4:30 | Violent clashes in Popayan

Protesters’ refusal to obey a 4PM curfew that sought to limit the protests is triggering clashes with police after a day of protests that were entirely peaceful.

There are clashes in the historic sector of Popayan where young people were holding a sit-in at the headquarters of Indeportes, asking to establish a dialogue table over the compliance of agreements and clear policies for culture and sports. The ESMAD arrived to evict them and at this moment they are clashing.

Reporter Lorena Velasco

The violence resulted in the destruction of the local police detention unit for the second time since the beginning of the protests on April 28.

4:45PM | Violence erupts on multiple places in Bogota

Police clashed with rioters at the Americas mas transit bus terminal in southwestern Bogota after protests that were rowdy and largely peaceful until “some” protesters turned violent, according to reporter Joshua Collins.

This was confirmed by Bogota Government Secretary Luis Ernesto Gomez, who said that “it’s a shame that the same as always sabotage a day that has been peaceful in all districts.”

Riot police unit ESMAD attacked protesters in the northeast of the city for reasons yet unknown two hours earlier.

4:45PM | “They’re opening fire!”

The peaceful protests in Cali descended into utter chaos after police first began teargassing protesters who later also shouted that “they’re opening fire!”

Student newspaper Univalle Unida later found shell cases where the protesters claimed they had come under fire.

5:30PM | Violent chaos everywhere

By 6PM, violence had broken out in multiple places in Bogota, Cali and Popayan. Only in Medellin, peace seemed to have returned.

In Cali, clashes between police and protesters had spread to places away from where the original protests were held.

In Popayan, violence intensified to the point that police reportedly attacked human rights workers and “delinquents” attacked a school.

8:00PM | No police = no violence

The protest at the Heroes Monument in Bogota made it evident that violence only occurred where police was present, which wasn’t the case in the center of Bogota where protesters commemorated the 74 people who were killed during the 84 days of protests.

Whether the fact that police makes Colombia unsafe is the result of a policy or just mindbogglingly bad policing is unclear.