The United Nations and European Union on Tuesday involved calm and warned of the utilization of excessive force at protests against the administration of Colombian President Ivan Duque, as protester deaths mounted and demonstrations continued overnight.
The protests – originally called con to a now-canceled tax reform – became a broad cry out for action against poverty and what demonstrators and a few advocacy groups say is police use of excessive force.
The national police has said it'll investigate quite twenty-four allegations of brutality, while the defense minister has alleged illegal armed groups are infiltrating the protests to cause violence.
The western city of Cali has become the protests’ epicenter and is that the site of 11 of 19 deaths confirmed by the Andean country’s human rights ombudsman.
“No more blood in Cali,” the city’s mayor Jorge Ivan Ospina said during a Twitter post early Tuesday, adding efforts are being made to stop more loss of life.
The tax reform opposed by protesters – which might have expanded sales and tax – has been withdrawn by the govt and minister of finance Alberto Carrasquilla resigned.
Duque has said his government will draw up another reform proposal – the results of consultations with lawmakers, civil society and businesses – and used his nightly television program to involve unity.
“What we most require today is that everybody , absolutely everyone, be united in some basic purposes,” Duque said on Monday.
Duque previously offered military assistance to guard infrastructure and guarantee access to essential services, though mayors of cities including Bogota and Medellin said it had been unnecessary.
The United Nation’s Office of the diplomat for Human Rights urged calm before further planned protests and warned of police shootings.
“We are deeply alarmed at developments within the city of Cali in Colombia overnight, where police opened fire on demonstrators protesting against tax reforms,” spokesperson Marta Hurtado said during a Tuesday statement.
The European Union also involved security forces to avoid a heavy-handed response, urged calm and condemned violence.
Last year, 13 people were killed during protests sparked by the death of a person in police custody.
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