Thousands march in Colombia over tax proposals, rising insecurity

Strike went ahead despite calls for it to be postponed because of COVID-19, with riot police using tear gas to disperse the crowds. 

Bogota, Colombia – Tens of thousands of protesters answered the call of Colombia’s biggest unions to take to the streets over the government’s proposed tax proposals despite a court order to postpone the strike over concerns of an overstretched health system amid a third wave of coronavirus. Teachers, university students, trade unions, Afro-Colombian and Indigenous groups and many others took part in the protests on Wednesday against tax changes put forward by right-wing President Ivan Duque’s government. The government has proposed an array of new or expanded taxes on citizens and business owners and also to reduce or eliminate many tax exemptions, such as those on product sales, to help boost an economy severely affected by COVID-19.