Protest

Hundreds of thousands of Colombians took to the streets on Thursday amid a general strike over rumored economic reforms and increasing discontent with the government of President Ivan Duque. Protest organizers said more than 1 million people demonstrated across the country, while authorities put estimates at 207,000. What began as peaceful marches turned violent by early evening as demonstrators threw rocks at riot police, which fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. Read more: Opinion: Latin America needs solidarity  As tensions rose further still, locals attempted to enter the nation's Congress and tore down some black cloth protecting a historic building in Plaza Bolivar, in downtown Bogota. A police officer walks among tear gas after dispersing anti-government demonstrators at Bolivar square, Bogota At least eight civilians and 28 police officers were wounded in the clashes, authorities confirmed.  … [Read more...] about Colombia anti-government protesters clash with police

Chinese citizens are rushing to donate money to the families of two Hong Kong men attacked during the city’s ongoing political unrest. The South China Morning Post reported that Huang Xiaoming, one of China’s highest paid actors, was one of more than 100,000 to recently contribute to a fund for the family of Lee Chi-cheung, 57, who was set on fire, and for relatives of a cleaner who was killed by a brick during a street clash. Mr Lee was left fighting for his life after the horrific attack, which took place earlier in November during an altercation with masked protesters who had  vandalised a metro station. A graphic video of the assault shows a shocked Mr Lee being doused in flammable liquid and then set on fire, leaving him with second-degree burns to 28 percent of his body. The footage sparked widespread condemnation in China and Hong Kong and an interview this week with his devastated wife went viral on Chinese state TV, CGTN, when she revealed that he was still in … [Read more...] about Chinese donations flood in for Hong Kong protest victims

Thousands of people marched through the streets of Bogota and several other cities on Sunday to condemn the car bombing that killed 20 police academy cadets on Thursday. Marchers donned white, waved Colombian flags and chanted slogans such as "cowardly killers" and "life is sacred." The government and some opposition leaders walked alongside protesters as they marched through the capital. President Ivan Duque and ex-president Juan Manuel Santos were among the attendees. Protestors thanked police with hugs Thursday's bombing, which the government has blamed on the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerilla group, was the deadliest explosives attack in Bogota since 2003. A religious service in memory of the victims, who were between 17 and 22 years old, is scheduled for Sunday evening. Peace talks cancelled Duque cancelled peace talks with the ELN in response to the attack. The negotiations had been aiming to end more than five decades of insurgency … [Read more...] about Colombia: Thousands march to protest cadet bombings

Colombian President Ivan Duque announced Monday that his country's departure from UNASUR would be completed in six months. In a statement on the presidential website, Duque said: "Today with precise instructions, the foreign minister sent UNASUR the letter where we denounce the constituent treaty of that entity and in six months our withdrawal will be effective." The president was blunt in his appraisal of the group: "UNASUR is an institution that has lent itself, with its silence and often with its complacency," Duque said. "We cannot continue being part of an institution that has been the greatest accomplice of the Venezuelan dictatorship." Duque follows other regional leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Paraguay who decided in April to temporarily suspend membership of the bloc. The aim of UNASUR, promoted and co-founded by Venezuela's leader at the time Hugo Chavez, had been to oppose US interests and objectives in the region. Read more: Venezuelan exodus … [Read more...] about Colombia leaves UNASUR to protest inaction on Venezuela

Colombian authorities are investigating an alleged militant plan to target President Ivan Duque during a scheduled meeting with indigenous communities on Tuesday. "We have reliable information that ... some armed organized groups, which have infiltrated this social and indigenous movement, would like to carry out a terrorist act that could affect the safety of the president himself," Attorney General Nestor Martinez said. Members of the indigenous community have been protesting for weeks in the country's southwest, calling on the government to uphold their land and sovereignty rights.  Tuesday's planned meeting between Duque and indigenous representatives aimed to bring the demonstrations to an end. The government agreed on Saturday to invest more than $250 million (€222 million) in indigenous communities. Read more: One year after peace Colombia's indigenous peoples feel FARC power vacuum Members of the minga movement block the … [Read more...] about Colombia’s president target of planned ‘terrorist act’