• Colombia: Three dead in protests against the Government of Iván Duque in Colombia
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The mayor of Bogotá, Enrique Peñalosa, decreed this Friday the curfew throughout the city to contain the riots and looting by violent protesters, which were recorded after the massive protest on Thursday against the Government of Iván Duque.

The decision was taken by Mayor Peñalosa at the request of Colombian President Iván Duque, who argued that it is to maintain security in the city.

"I have asked the Mayor of Bogotá Enrique Penalosa to apply a curfew throughout the city, starting at 9 pm. Our goal is to guarantee the safety of all Bogota citizens," Duque wrote in his Twitter account.

The measure will take effect from 9:00 pm (02:00 GMT on Saturday), although neither Duque nor Peñalosa said until what time it will be in effect.

Initially Peñalosa had decreed the curfew in Bosa, Kennedy and Ciudad Bolívar after eight o'clock at night. According to the councilor, in these three neighborhoods "criminal acts have been concentrated today," which includes looting of shops and damages to 79 public service buses, which add to the destruction of 76 system stations on Thursday. Transmilenio transport.

"Unfortunately there has been widespread vandalism," added the mayor, who said there are 4,000 Army soldiers supporting some 20,000 police officers in order surveillance and maintenance.

From the early hours of the morning violent protesters blocked the main public transport stations in the south of the Colombian capital, a prelude to the chaos that broke out hours later in neighborhoods like Patio Bonito, Molinos, Perdomo, Meissen and Tintal, which are part from the towns of Bosa, Kennedy and Ciudad Bolívar, as well as in the neighboring town of Soacha, where curfew was also decreed.

"There are then some criminals who want to destroy our democracy, who want to destroy our city and who believe they are going to achieve it," said the mayor and said there are 230 captured by those events.

Peñalosa added that the disorders are not "due to weaknesses" of the authorities but because of "self-control", which has prevented deaths, but warned that no one should be called cheating because the public force has not made "use of its weapons." "But let it be clear, our democracy and our city have how to defend themselves," he emphasized.

Disorders in Bogotá began on Thursday afternoon at the end of the demonstrations against the economic and social policy of Colombian President Iván Duque, and although they remitted during the night, they resumed this morning in the south of the city.

tear gas

The Colombian police have dispersed this Friday with tear gas in the central Plaza de Bolívar, in Bogotá, to a group of protesters who had started a new pan against the policies of President Iván Duque.

The citizens, mostly students, were hitting their pans when members of the Mobile Riot Squadron (ESMAD) threw tear gas at them and the protest dispersed.

Many of the protesters stayed in the stables next to the Plaza de Bolívar and threw objects at the uniformed soldiers, who responded with more gases and formed a barrier to prevent the passage of the crowd.

Then a pitched battle broke out between protesters and the Police like last Thursday, when the hooded men tried to enter the National Capitol and the Palacio de Líevano, headquarters of the City Hall, which led to the reaction of the uniformed men.

This Friday's scene in the Plaza de Bolívar was replicated in the Los Heroes Monument, in the north of the city, where ESMAD also dispersed with gas and stunning bombs another peaceful protest that had begun minutes before.

The confrontations in the Plaza de Bolívar and in the Monument to Los Heróes add to what happened in the south of the city, where the lag of protests this Thursday generated riots in which the hooded faced the Police.

Protesters blocked early Friday the main public transport stations in the south of the Colombian capital, a prelude to the chaos that broke out hours later in popular neighborhoods such as Patio Bonito, Molinos, Perdomo, Meissen and Tintal, as well as in the neighboring town of Soacha where the curfew was declared.

The Mayor's Office responded by sending dozens of policemen who repelled with the launch of tear gas the attacks with stones and other objects by violent protesters in clashes that have lasted for more than four hours.

Meanwhile, citizens returned to the streets of Cali, where Thursday there were riots but to make a sound peaceful pan in front of the City Council building where some even attended with children.

In Cartagena , a crowd gathered in the vicinity of the Clock Tower and with pots in hand continued protests against government policies.

The cacerolazo, symbol of the protests in other Latin American countries, was until Friday something almost unusual in Colombia where the only antecedent of this popular demonstration goes back in the mid-nineties against then President Ernesto Samper, for the leak scandal of money from drug trafficking in the electoral campaign that brought him to power.

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