BOGOTA: At least 10 people in the city of Cali were killed in a day of anti-government protests, authorities said Saturday, as Colombia enters its second month of demonstrations that have met violent repression.
President Ivan Duque announced Friday he was deploying military troops to Cali while the nation marked a full month of Colombia-wide rallies that have morphed into a broad anti-establishment mobilization.
“Ten people” are dead, “this is the toll we have this morning” in events linked to Friday’s demonstrations, Cali’s security secretary Carlos Rojas told Caracol radio. Police said eight of the 10 were shot dead.
He spoke after reports of violent street clashes. In one case, a representative from the Cali prosecutor’s office said an off-duty investigator had shot at a crowd, killing a civilian, before being lynched by protesters.
Video footage showed a man lying in a pool of blood and another nearby wielding a gun; that man was then attacked by a group of people.
“In the south of the city we had a real scene of confrontation and almost an urban war where many people not only lost their lives, but we also had a significant number of injuries,” said Rojas.
The official nationwide toll up to Friday in the month of violence was 49 dead, with many more wounded or missing. Human Rights Watch, which has been reporting a higher toll, says it has counted 63 deaths to date.
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