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I haven't been able to keep track of all the chaos in the streets tonight. But Bogotá is exploding in protest after cops killed an unarmed man. Many small police stations (CAIs) are on fire and lots of violence is being captured on video. At least one man has been shot reportedly https://twitter.com/InvisiblesMuros/status/1303879514750103552
This is the most disturbing video I've seen on social media. A man is shot and bleeding in the streets, purportedly at the hands of Colombian police. I believe this is in the barrio of Suba. https://twitter.com/mccm___/status/1303885539066744834
This second video (highly disturbing ... viewer advisory) is purportedly of the same incident in which many are saying the man died. https://twitter.com/SamBonilla16/status/1303901329471930369
This was the inciting incident in which Colombian police show an utter disregard for human life that tragically mimics the George Floyd incident in the United States. https://twitter.com/ruedareport/status/1303850473083088901
This video shows a man being brutally beaten by several cops and then bleeding all over the street. https://www.facebook.com/carito.beltran.756/videos/10157913171677734
There are many more videos all over Colombian social media now, many showing bloody, gravely injured people. It is very widespread, it is very bloody, and a lot of property is on fire.
This is all happening after nearly 6 months of mandatory, strict quarantine in Bogotá (which is now easing) and near-daily reports of more massacres occurring all across Colombia. The climate has long felt untenable with smaller-scale protest—and now things are fully boiling over
Some of the most disturbing and grave videos going around are hard to place within the wider protest. I don't doubt their veracity as happening tonight at the hands of law enforcement. Still, misinformation is common at times like this. Search around. You'll see it.
Incidents like this are also being shared. https://twitter.com/NoticiasCaracol/status/1303888361392926722
And police stations are on fire all over. Buses as well. https://twitter.com/NoticiasCaracol/status/1303897500299022336
It is chaos in Bogotá. https://twitter.com/JcolmenaresE/status/1303880685644648449
Several of the incidents I have seen on social media show law enforcement clearly and illegally beating citizens in the streets of Bogotá. Several show cops hitting people with batons just for seemingly trying to record something with their phones. https://twitter.com/heidy_up/status/1303880792825835521
Of note: There are also protests like this that have been happening. It's a massive city and while the fires and chaos are obviously the story, those unfamiliar shouldn't assume this is the purge. https://twitter.com/dianadefensora/status/1303861379867308032?s=21
But, yes, "protestors" are also clearly breaking laws and fomenting chaos in Bogotá by provoking/attacking law enforcement. That will never excuse the actions of the police officers who are publicly paid to protect and serve. But it has been happening too
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CE7qa5JnXWO/?igshid=10b2tiqgoqrgs
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CE7qa5JnXWO/?igshid=10b2tiqgoqrgs
There is no shortage of videos of fires taking over these mini police stations (called CAIs). Even the big news stations are sharing them. But demonstrations also look like this: https://twitter.com/carballochef/status/1303915484132319232
This feels like an aftershock of last year's extended Paro Nacional that coincided with protests throughout the region and lasted for more than a month. It only gained stream after the police killed the young protestor Dilan Cruz in the streets. https://twitter.com/Jared_Wade/status/1199170901813669889?s=19
Police abuse was widespread during the Paro Nacional, especially in the early days from the riot squad ESMAD units. This new outrage that's erupting — after cops killed another unarmed man in the streets — is surely reigniting rage seen previously in 2019 https://twitter.com/Jared_Wade/status/1198388205206286336?s=19
And in March, just as the pandemic was starting and the national lockdown was looming, a young black man, Anderson Arboleda, was killed by cops in the Pacific region. Some called it a "George Floyd moment," and it received widespread condemnation. https://twitter.com/Jared_Wade/status/1268193419425390594
There are other videos circulating that show what is purported to be a man dying in a pool of blood tonight in the streets of Barrio Verbenal. Here, the young man widely being identified on social media as Christian, appears to have died. https://twitter.com/juliomario55555/status/1303919393102061569
