Violent night in Portal Américas: at least 40 civilians injured, three with eye injuries, after a day of protests

Various social organizations and human rights defenders denounced more than 40 injured people, three with eye injuries, after the demonstrations and confrontations with the Public Force in the Portal of the Americas, to the south west of Bogotá.

According to the Secretary of the Government, Luis Ernesto Gómez, the team of coexistence of the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá had managed to reduce the tension at the point, through the Unified Command Post and social dialogue, on Saturday afternoon.

However, about 10:00 pm. The situation escalated again and there were clashes with the intervention of the Police and Esmad at the point, as has been recurrent in the last nights of demonstrations in that sector of the city.

The Secretary of Government indicated that despite the dialogue, on some sides of the Transmilenio portal, vandalism actions continued to be presented, for which reason the Public Force subsequently intervened.

The Personería de Bogotá, which is present at the point with human rights delegates together with the PMU, affirmed that it should have withdrawn its officials after a direct attack against them. One of the officials was hit in the head by a brick.

“It is inadmissible for this District Public Ministry that in the exercise of its constitutional and legal functions and for defending the integrity of a citizen, an official of the entity has been hit with a brick while fulfilling her duty as guarantor”, stated the entity.

After the clashes, human rights organizations such as Lazos de Dignidad, Defend la Libertad and the Justice and Peace Commission, They reported that they had registered more than 41 injured people at the makeshift health care points of the Portal de la Resistencia, where three people had eye injuries.

A video denounced the assault on a young man, who was seen in the images with a blow to the left eye and who was being treated by other protesters, while he was on the floor stunned by the situation. According to the organizations, he lost his eye due to the impact of a deterrent from the authorities.

The organizations, as well as the councilor Heidy Sánchez, denounced that the ambulances could not reach the place to receive the injured and the Police had carried out harassment to humanitarian points that provide health care.

“Social Dialogue sided with the National Police, allowed the National Police to record directly in our faces, and allowed the harassment of human rights defenders.” Said one of the members of Lazos de Dignidad.

They also narrated that after a confrontation on Avenida Ciudad de Cali, they went to the health center that the civilians installed, but there the public force withdrew and gases and stun bombs were thrown near the place.

In the Chicalá neighborhood, near the Portal de las Américas, they also denounced an attack against human rights defenders.

They allegedly intervened in the arrest of a protester by members of Esmad, who struggled to continue with the procedure, but after pressure from the community they decided to return to Avenida Ciudad de Cali, where the main confrontation was taking place.

Likewise, the Defend Freedom campaign reported that non-permitted projectiles such as marbles and metallic spheres were used at the point, which they managed to collect after the intervention of the public forces.

The renamed Portal Resistencia has been one of the main demonstration centers in Bogotá. During Saturday afternoon, according to Secretary Gómez, In 14 sectors of the city, more than 3,000 people gathered to advance protests in the middle of the 26th of the National Strike.

Due to the permanent concentration in the Portal of the Americas, a permanent PMU was installed and open to the public, where the Secretary of Government himself was injured with a stone and which had a shocked start with live broadcast last Thursday, May 21.