Colombia: Death Toll Rises to 13 in Protests Over Police Abuse

By teleSUR

11 September 20

The protests against police brutality were unleashed after the murder of a lawyer on Wednesday.

t least 13 people have been killed by the police during the demonstrations against police brutality that have been shaking Colombia since Wednesday.

"The 13 victims were killed by Public Force's exclusive weapons during the protests. Eight of them were young people between 17 and 27 years old. Three are women between 18 and 36 years old," Bogota's Mayor Claudia Lopez explained.

The assassinations "were reported in Bogota Department and Soacha municipality, in Cundinamarca Department," Lopez added as she assured that during the protests at least 403 people were injured and about 50 police posts were destroyed.

The wave of protests against police brutality in Colombia was unleashed after the murder of lawyer Javier Ordoñez, 46, who received electric shocks from an agent's taser gun.

"We will not tolerate brutality. But, let us be clear that not all police agents commit abuses," Colombia's President Ivan Duque said tepidly in response to violence in the streets.

Lopez's response was different. "These crimes are not isolated. We're dealing with a Police's structural problem," she said.

Although the protests' trigger was Ordoñez's murder, the people took to the streets in memory of other young people who lost their lives due to police brutality.

In the list of police abuses reported in 2020, there is the murder of Nicolas Neira, 15, who received a canister of tear gas directly into his head. Andres Becerra, 17, also died when a police officer shot him in the back without justification.