UN Report Links Colombia Police to Deaths of 11 in Protests

Colombian police killed at least 11 people during protests that broke out in September of last year, following the death of a taxi driver who was beaten to death while in police custody, a report backed by the United Nations found.

By Associated Press
Dec. 13, 2021

FILE - A woman holding a Colombian flag stands next to a police officer in riot gear during a protest in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. Colombian police killed at least 10 people during protests that broke out in September of last year, following the death of a taxi driver who was beaten to death while in police custody, a report published Monday, Dec. 13, 2021, backed by the United Nations found. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


By MANUEL RUEDA, Associated Press

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian police killed at least 11 people during protests that broke out in September of last year, following the death of a taxi driver who was beaten to death while in police custody, a report backed by the United Nations found.

The 182-page report published on Monday says that on Sept. 9-11, 2020, police in Colombia committed a “massacre” against civilians in low income neighborhoods. It says violence spun out of control because officers reacting to protests in front of police stations were unprepared to handle large crowds and were not given orders by their superiors to refrain from using firearms.

According to the report’s authors, 75 people were injured by firearms during the three nights of protests in which police officers were also filmed destroying private property, and a total of 14 people were killed by police, protesters who hijacked a bus and civilians using firearms.

Seventeen police stations in Colombia’s capital city were set on fire and destroyed by protesters on Sept. 9-11 after videos emerged on social media of two policemen detaining a 44-year-old taxi driver who was drinking on a sidewalk, and beating him repeatedly while an onlooker begged for them to stop. Taxi driver Javier Ordoñez died that night from his injuries.