Colombian police are being investigated for not acting against civilians who shot

The Colombian Police opened disciplinary investigations against ten members of that institution for not having acted against civilians who last Friday were seen shooting at protesters in Cali (southwest) during a protest against the Government.

Videos circulate on social media in which people denounce that men in civilian clothing carrying weapons shot at those who participated in a protest in Cali, capital of the agro-industrial department of Valle del Cauca.

Cali is the city most affected by vandals who have attacked public and private buildings in recent weeks; destroyed buses and stations of the public transport system, looted shops and attacked the police, among other crimes, during the protests that began on April 28, which apparently motivated the armed response of some people.

The director of the Dijin of the Police, General Fernando Murillo, told Noticias Caracol that in these videos “you see some individuals using firearms or blank weapons because it has not been possible to establish (what type they are)” but that despite to the presence of the public force in those places “no action is taken to prevent this from happening.”

With regard to blank weapons or so-called “traumatic” weapons, the Presidential Counselor for National Security, Rafael Guarín, considered that it is necessary to regulate their use.

For that reason, he proposed to the Ministry of Defense that these elements be technically considered firearms and that their free sale and commercialization be prohibited.

“Firearms and traumatic weapons are similar in their physical characteristics. Furthermore, the physical and chemical functioning of both uses the same principle, which consists of the combustion of a chemical substance to expel the projectile ”, explained Guarín.

A report from the Prosecutor’s Office and the Ombudsman’s Office presented today says that at least 48 deaths have been reported during the protests in Colombia and that 20 of them are directly related to the mobilizations.

Of the deaths related to the demonstrations, which have triggered one of the worst social and political crises in the country, 10 have occurred in Cali, four more in other cities of Valle del Cauca and three in Cundinamarca, while in Bogotá, Cauca and Tolima there is one dead per place.