Colombia protests: UN urges independent probe as death toll rises
- Dozens have died and hundreds have been injured in just over a month of violent unrest
- Demonstrations against plan to raise taxes have grown into a mass protest movement with a range of grievances
The UN called for an independent investigation as more than a dozen people were reported dead in fresh clashes a month into anti-government protests in Colombia that triggered a military deployment to the city of Cali.
Clashes late Friday pitted police against armed civilians, leaving 13 dead, according to officials, in Colombia’s third largest city of 2.2 million people.
An armed forces crackdown on protests that started on April 28 against the government of President Ivan Duque has drawn international condemnation, and on Sunday, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet voiced “deep concern” over the ongoing violence.
Bachelet’s office cited reports from Cali that armed individuals, including an off-duty judicial police officer, had opened fire on demonstrators, journalists covering the protests, and passers-by.
The policeman was subsequently beaten to death by a crowd, it said, and in parts of Cali civilians were seen firing shots at demonstrators as police looked on.
According to reports received by Bachelet’s office, 14 people died in the violence and 98 people were injured, 54 of them by firearms.
