On September 9, PBI-Colombia posted that it “accompanies @dhColombia in its demands for #justice and guarantees for social protest 1 year after the violence and police massacre in Parque Verbenal, Bogotá.”
Earlier in the day, PBI-Colombia had also posted: “Today we accompany @dhColombia on the national day of human rights in Colombia and the first anniversary of the #9SSinOlvido [never forget] protests that left 13 people killed and hundreds of people injured in Bogotá.”
One year ago, the Associated Press reported: “Two days of protests in Colombia over the death of a man in police custody have left 13 people dead and over 400 injured, authorities said Friday {September 11]. The violence rocking Bogota following Javier Ordóñez’s death [on the morning of Wednesday September 9] spilled into a second night of smaller protests and clashes with police late Thursday [September 10].”
Those killed were Jaider Fonseca (17 years old), Eidier Jesús Arias (17), Andrés Felipe Rodríguez (23), Cristian Hernández, María del Carmen Viuvche (40), Julián Mauricio Muñoz (27), Julieth Ramírez (18), Jaider Fonseca (17), Camilo Hernández, Gabriel Estrada (31), Estiben Mendoza (26), Cristian Hurtado (27), and Angie Paola Baquero (29).
That article further explains: “The violence erupted after Ordóñez died early Wednesday following a confrontation caught on video by witnesses showing two officers pinning him down and tasering him while he begged them to stop. He was taken to a police precinct and later a hospital, where authorities say he arrived without vital signs.”
“The incident sparked a wave of anger over excessive use of force by the police. It comes at the same time as massive protests over racial discrimination and police abuse against Black citizens in the United States.”
The death of Ordonez evoked memories of the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota given police pinned him to the ground with their knees as he cried “please, no more” and “I’m choking” in a video widely circulated on social media.
Earlier this year, dhColombia tweeted: “Never forget, the Massacre of September 9, 2020, was a massacre committed by the State at the hands of the Colombian Police.”
The Mayor of Bogota, Claudia López, has also commented: “There is overwhelming evidence that members of the National Police used their firearms to shoot indiscriminately in various towns and neighborhoods of our city.” She adds: “Despite the evidence that those members of the National Police arbitrarily and unconstitutionally used their firearms, … the Prosecutor’s Office did not consider that these homicides were aggravated guilty. It did not request a custodial measure in prison.”
On this one-year anniversary, the Spanish news agency EFE reported: “Families are still seeking justice and only four agents have been charged with the facts, although they are at liberty and have not been removed from the service in the force.”
46-year-old law student Javier Ordóñez died in police custody on September 9, 2020. Thirteen people were killed by the police in the protests that followed his death.
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