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(CNN) – Five deaths left the violent disturbances registered during the night of this Wednesday in Bogotá, informed Colombian Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo.
With this argument, the ministry reported this morning that it will reinforce the Bogotá Police with 1,600 agents, 850 of whom will arrive from other regions of the country.
In addition, 300 soldiers from the Colombian Army will support security tasks in the Colombian capital. In public appearance, Holmes offered a reward of up to US $ 13,400 for information leading to the capture of those involved in the deaths of the five people.
During the night of this Wednesday and early in the morning of this Thursday, demonstrations and cacerolazos against the police took place in Bogotá that ended with serious disturbances and clashes between several protesters and agents.
Many Bogotá residents took to the streets to protest the death of Javier Ordóñez, who died in a clinic after a suspected episode of police brutality.
Two Bogota police officers were separated from their charges after a video was released showing two officers beating Ordoñez, 44.
According to the Colombian National Police, 39 police Commands for Immediate Action (CAI) were attacked (27 vandalized and 12 set on fire), 21 policemen suffered serious injuries and 5 motorcycles and police vehicles were destroyed.
The riots affected several areas of Bogotá, especially the neighborhoods of Bosa, Suba, Kennedy and Engativá. The protesters took to the streets and cut traffic on the southern highway of the Colombian capital.
(Photo by JUAN BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
The president of Colombia, Iván Duque, said this Wednesday, during a conversation with young people on the occasion of National Human Rights Day, that in Colombia there will be no tolerance for human rights abuses by the police.
For his part, Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo reported the initiation of criminal proceedings against agents suspected of excessive use of force. The minister condemned what happened and expressed his solidarity with the relatives of the dead man, whom he identified as Javier Humberto Ordóñez Bermúdez.
The video of the attack was broadcast on social networks on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. In the images, two policemen are observed subjecting the man to the ground with electric shocks from an electro-shock gun on several occasions. You can hear how the man says “please” several times.
Several passersby who record the video ask the agents to stop assaulting him. Officers are also heard several times asking the man on the ground to put his “hands back”.
The circumstances prior to this operation are not clear. CNN asked police for details, which forwarded to official statements. Nor has it released the names of the two agents under investigation.
The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation opened an investigation into the alleged irregularity in the police procedure, as confirmed on Twitter by the attorney general Francisco Barbosa Delgado.
Mayor of Bogotá offers condolences for deaths
The mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, expressed her condolences to relatives and friends of the people who died or were injured in the clashes between protesters and the police.
“Destroying Bogotá will not fix the Police. Destroying us won’t fix anything. Let’s focus on achieving justice and structural reform for the security forces, ”he wrote on his Twitter account.
On the other hand, the Colombian National Police reported that in addition to the five deaths, there are 30 injured officers, 50 injured civilians admitted to hospitals due to blunt force injuries, 53 affected police facilities, 77 affected vehicles (including 25 vandalized Transmilenio, 9 of them burned), among others.
With information from Florencia Trucco
