‘We are here as outraged Colombians’: protest

Police and transportation stations burned.

Blocked roads and underserved supermarkets.

And at least a score of people have lost their lives amid protests, vandalism and clashes with the anti-riot police and the Colombian armed forces.

With their country plunged for seven days in uncertainty and growing tension, dozens of Colombians in our city gathered at the consulate to make their voices heard.

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“We are here as outraged Colombians, regardless of political color,” said one of the speakers.

“The youth to join and gather signatures to bring down the congress if we collect 3 million signatures we can bring down the congress that lifetime salaries for me to go to hell we want good people in the congress,” said Claudia Duque, another protester .

The protests in Colombia began last week against the tax reform of the Iván Duque government.

The project was aborted but the demonstrations do not stop. This Wednesday a group of protesters tried to take over Congress.

“The uncertainty has really led to the explosion of many actors in Colombian society,” explained Alejandro Rincón, a Colombian journalist for NTN24.

Colombians here in the city then marched to the United Nations demanding justice for the deaths during the hard confrontations with the forces of order.

And here on the outskirts of the United Nations what Colombians are demanding is a change in government policies, they are asking for the resignation of President Duque. They also ask the United Nations to take measures because they claim that human rights have been drastically violated.

“They are shooting against the civilian population, there are ‘black hopes’ shooting directly at the neighborhoods as if we were talking about armed people. They are ‘armed people’ with simply flags asking the Colombian government for good sense,” said another protester.

For the journalist Rincón, the situation is truly worrying because the government itself has recognized that behind the explosions of violence there are criminal hands.

“Seeing that its most important cities are being victims of chaos and groups of violence that deviate from the true intention of the people, is what is truly worrying,” said Rincón.

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