More than 300 displacement victims forced out of Bogota’s main plaza
More than 300 displacement victims forced out of Bogota’s main plaza
May 21, 2014 posted by Larisa Sioneriu
Hundreds of displacement victims were cleared from Bogota’s Plaza Bolivar, where they had been gathering in act of protest, national media reported Wednesday.
More than 300 people who had settled in the square two weeks earlier — in an attempt to draw attention to their situation and pressure the national government into providing aid — were forcibly removed in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the El Tiempo newspaper reported.
The displacement victims — reportedly from such diverse states as Meta, in the east of the country; Antioquia, in the center; Nariño in the southwest; and Valle del Cauca on the Pacific coast – denounced the authorities for meeting their pleas with force and violence. According to El Tiempo, more than 400 policemen were called upon to remove the protesters, including members of the riot police force (ESMAD), widely accused of human rights violations.
“They took out women and children by force, they stepped on us, hit a few people and they pushed a man to the ground and threw away his prosthesis” one of the victims said, according to Caracol Radio.
Another victim, a man reportedly missing a leg, told RCN Radio that the he was hit several times by the authorities and beaten even after he made clear his disability.
More:
http://colombiareports.co/hundreds-displaced-people-dislodged-bogotas-main-plaza/