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A 24-year-old boy was injured in a new clash between protesters and police. As the investigations into how the events occurred, doubts are being sown about compliance with the guidelines to avoid these cases.
Once the second peak of the pandemic was over, the demonstrations returned to the streets of Bogotá, and not in the best way. Gareth steven sella, 24, became the new face of excess in the midst of the protests and his situation once again sows doubts about how the demonstrations are carried out and accompanied in the capital. In a student mobilization, which took place last Wednesday, Sella received a strong impact on her face and everything indicates that, in the best of scenarios, she will only recover 10% of her sight through her left eye. There is no certainty about the circumstances in which he was injured, but the fact shows once again the tragic results of the clashes between protesters and police officers.
His case also reopens an old discussion: on the one hand, to what extent is the use of force by the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad necessary (Esmad) and, on the other, what is the role of the organizations that lead the mobilizations in avoiding confrontations, the result of which is always regrettable. But beyond that, the situation puts on the table the effectiveness of the protocols designed by the Mayor’s Office, to avoid the repetition of cases such as that of Dilan Cruz or the 592 of police violence that were reported last year and of which the 67% occurred between 9-11 September.
> READ: Gareth Steven would have 10% vision in his left eye
On this matter there are various considerations and points of view that depend on the version that is created. On the one hand, there is that of the Police, which maintains that Sella was hooded during the mobilization and rules out, for now, that one of the agents had shot him, since they indicate that the protocol was complied with and the intervention of the coexistence managers prevailed. of the Secretary of Government.
Even General Óscar Gómez, commander of the Bogotá Police, assured that not even the review of the security cameras in the center of Bogotá, where the event occurred, served to detect the exact moment in which Sella was injured. “We were able to show that the shoes he was wearing were also worn by a hooded person. He was wearing overalls and a black mask, ”he said. Due to the confusion of the scene, he also suggested that those responsible had been the protesters themselves, since “they themselves threw quite a few stones and we do not know if he was injured there or by another device.”
> READ: Gareth Steven changed clothes after being injured in protests in Bogotá, police say
The young man’s relatives and those who accompanied him during the mobilization indicate something else. His theory is that it was a shot with a reduced lethality weapon to control excesses in the marches (known as a marker) that, according to the protocols, must be fired in a parabolic way to avoid serious injuries.
Kimberly Sella, older sister of the injured young man, states that, according to what he has told them, “the Esmad was in an uproar” and he, as one of the leaders of the Blue Shields (a group of young people who seek to defend and control the rest of the protesters with improvised cardboard shields and gas masks), “he started to move people, but he turned to the left and saw how they shot him in the face. He has no idea what, but his eye immediately felt numb. “
> READ: Gareth Steven was not committing violent acts: Blue Shields
Another of the leaders of the Blue Shields, whom they know as Amok, believes that the failures in the protocols occurred since the march was cited. “There are guidelines and a series of steps for the intervention of Esmad, but since it began, the riot police have been present and have been ‘showing their teeth’ with their weapons. Nor was there any talk or guarantee before the intervention “.
The leader acknowledges that, although it is not defined as a protocol, there were also failures in having once again infiltrators without any political discourse, “who come directly to break and then, when Esmad arrives, they disappear.” Finally, he justified the use of the gas mask and the biosafety suit, which are not illegal and are a kind of “camouflage”, because they consider that after the marches they will be the object of follow-ups or investigations. “We cannot be so naive and we use ways to march safely.”
While the investigation into how the events occurred, the District has a position that asks not to stigmatize young people for the clothes they wear in the marches. This was expressed by the mayor Claudia López, who assured that in effect the device that hit Sella was fired “despite being expressly prohibited by my instructions and the protocols of the Mayor’s Office.”
> READ: Who is Gareth Steven Sella, the young man who was injured in the protests in Bogotá?
Who is and how is Sella?
The first thing that his relatives clarify is that he is not a student, as was said on several occasions. “For two years he has been a professional in film and TV at the School of Arts and Letters,” says his girlfriend, Camila Reyes, who describes him as a person who has always been interested in social work and political issues. “His political position is very marked against injustices and the State. He uses art to denounce and has never been violent. Much less is the person who is branded a vandal on social networks ”.
Sella had an eye exam to rule out general damage to her vision, because she felt she was seeing blurry. There was already an initial surgical intervention and now they must do a second one, but according to his family he does not perceive light. “The doctor says that the maximum he can recover is 10% of his sight, although it will be necessary to wait for the second intervention and even a third,” says Kimberly, his sister, who transmitted a call from the young man to the protesters not to fear and that we must continue to mobilize peacefully without being intimidated.
