
Amid escalating violence, Colombia sends in troops
CNN
More than a month since Colombians first took to the streets this year to protest against a botched tax overhaul and the government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, tensions across the country are escalating rapidly with more than a dozen deaths over the weekend -- and a risky new government tactic.
On Friday, the southern city of Cali witnessed new scenes of panic when several people in civilian clothing appeared to open fire against protesters, social media footage shows. Colombia's Attorney General Francisco Barbosa later confirmed that one of the shooters was an off-duty employee of his office's investigative unit. Preliminary investigations suggest that the man killed two protesters before the surrounding crowd lynched him, Barbosa said. Footage of the man beaten to death has since gone viral on Colombia social media. In another episode, a civilian was photographed aiming his gun towards protesters while standing next to uniformed police officers who did not intervene. The man, Andres Escobar, later published a video on social media saying he was shooting non-lethal rubber bullets and asking for forgiveness for his actions. In an interview with local radio station BluRadio, Escobar said he was prompted to action by seeing "vandals" running wild in his neighbourhood, and did not intend to kill anybody.More Related News