‘Egregious’ police abuse against Colombian protesters: Report

Human Rights Watch is calling on Colombia’s government to ‘take urgent measures to protect human rights’.

Bogotá, Colombia — Colombian police have committed “egregious” abuses against “mostly peaceful demonstrators” during protests that began in late April against the tax reform but have expanded to include a host of social inequities, a new report has said. Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Colombia’s government to “take urgent measures to protect human rights, initiate a comprehensive police reform effort” to teach officers to respect protesters and bring to justice those responsible for abuses. The HRW report on Wednesday came as Colombia is in its sixth week of demonstrations which have spread across the country, sometimes turning violent. Dozens of protesters have been killed or injured, supposedly at the hands of police.