Friday night was quite complicated in public order in the municipality of Cartago (Valle del Cauca), on the border with the coffee region, where even one of the tank cars of the fire department of that town was set on fire.

The act of vandalism occurred because supposedly the vehicle was lent to tank with water a tank of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (Esmad) from the police.

However, the deputy commander of the Fire Department of that municipality, Captain Luis Fernando Uchima, indicated that they were not rendering any service to Esmad, but that they came to attend to an emergency.

“There was an electrical fire at the entrance to the Ortez neighborhood. We corroborated this information and also called Energía de Pereira, who said they were not attending due to the risks involved in getting there. Then we, with the desire we have to protect our community, we did decide to go and this unfortunate event happened to us”, he narrated.

The rescuer reiterated that they had not provided support to the Public Force, and that their mission was to attend to emergencies that may occur in that municipality.

“I want to emphasize that we are neutral and we are here to serve the community,” added Captain Uchima.

In the municipality they only have two of these vehicles to attend emergencies, but after the vandalism, they now only have one.

During the day of protests, on the occasion of the national strike against the government of President Iván Duque, There were several clashes between some protesters and the Police in that town of Valle del Cauca.

Another serious event that occurred was the police clash with some protesters in the vicinity of a San Juan de Dios hospital, as tear gas affected patients, among which there are patients with covid-19.

Also there were clashes in the vicinity of the Simón Bolívar bridge, which links the municipality of Valle with the department of Risaralda, where residents of the area were also affected by the gases.

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Colombia

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