They investigate two Bogotá police officers after disturbing video 3:05
(CNN Spanish) -
Javier Ordóñez died after police officers detained him, subdued him on the ground using electro-shock guns, while he asked them several times to stop.
"Please, please," he is heard saying in the videos that recorded the events and that have generated massive protests in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, which ended with serious disturbances and clashes with protesters alleging police brutality.
Ordóñez, 44, was subdued by the police before the astonished gaze of several people who also asked the police.
Javier Ordóñez died in a clinic after a suspected episode of police brutality.
The two officers, whose identities have not been released, were separated from their charges, authorities said.
Seven dead in violent clashes between protesters and Bogotá police for the death of Javier Ordóñez
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A woman sticks a banner at a police force Comando de Acción Immediata (CAI) in Bogotá.
(Photo: Juan BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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A riot police in front of a cloud of smoke during protests in Bogotá.
(Photo: Juan BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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Protesters burn a motorcycle during a protest in Bogotá.
(Photo: Juan BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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People in Bogotá protest with banners against the alleged police abuse and demand justice.
(Photo: JUAN BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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Riot police and protesters in protests on Wednesday in Bogotá.
(Photo: JUAN BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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Protesters confront police officers during protests over the death of Javier Ordóñez, who died after being subdued by the police with electric pistols.
(Photo: JUAN BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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Protesters push and destroy a pickup from the Attorney General's Office during the protest.
(Photo by JUAN BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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Paramedics help an injured riot police officer.
(Photo by JUAN BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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Riot police stand guard during the protests.
(Photo by JUAN BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
Javier Ordóñez: «Please stop»
Javier Ordóñez was a lawyer and aeronautical engineer who lived in western Bogotá.
He had two children, his sister-in-law, Eliana Garzón, told CNN en Español.
In the images, two policemen are observed subjecting the man to the ground with electric shocks from an electro-shock gun on several occasions.
You can hear how the man says "please" several times.
Several passersby who record the video ask the agents to stop assaulting him.
Officers are also heard several times asking the man on the ground to put his "hands back".
"They were murderers, they killed my brother-in-law," said Eliana Garzón, Ordóñez's sister-in-law.
"My brother-in-law did not die in a police procedure."
Several deaths in Bogotá after the death of Javier Ordoñez 3:31
Garzón said that Ordóñez was a "very sociable person, he had many friends, he liked to talk, have a few drinks with his friends."
He says that as a father he liked to give "confidence to his children to tell him things" and that he was a very kind and very helpful person. "
She said that the family lawyer will seek a criminal process against the uniformed and not a non-disciplinary process.
In addition, she rejected the violent acts that were triggered after the death of her relative, but said that it is an act of empathy.
"We reject any act of violence because that is what took Javier, however we must understand that (the protesters) are all bored and this is an act of solidarity, of empathy with us as his relatives."
The circumstances prior to this operation are not clear.
CNN asked police for details, which forwarded to official statements.
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Riots
During the night of this Wednesday and early hours of Thursday morning, demonstrations and cacerolazos against the police were held in Bogotá.
The protests over the death of Javier Ordoñez ended with serious disturbances and clashes between several protesters and agents.
The protests against the police, which began in Engativá, west of Bogotá, spread to other towns and the neighboring municipality of Soacha, south of the city, reported the director general of the National Police, General Gustavo Alberto Moreno Maldonado.
Killed and injured in protests over Ordóñez's death
Nine people were killed, 55 civilians were injured and they were admitted to hospitals for blunt force injuries.
Among the dead is a 17-year-old minor, who arrived at a hospital wounded with a firearm and died, General Jorge Luis Vargas, director of citizen security for the Police, reported on Thursday.
He added that together with the Attorney General's Office they are verifying the identities and ages of the deceased.
The Police reported 93 uniformed men were injured, among them a captain was hit by a firearm, according to General Moreno Maldonado.
In addition, 53 police facilities were affected by the riots, as well as at least 77 affected vehicles.
Among them, 25 buses of the massive transport system, Transmilenio, which were vandalized and 9 of them set on fire, among other damages.
The Ministry of Defense announced that it will reinforce the security system of the Bogota Police with 750 uniformed personnel, plus 850 arriving from other regions of the country.
Similarly, 300 soldiers from the Army's 13th Brigade to support security efforts in Bogotá.
"Police abuse is recurrent"
The mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, said Wednesday that the Ordóñez case is not an isolated case.
"I would not say systematic behavior here, but recurrent," Lopez said Wednesday at a Human Rights table in which other institutions such as the Attorney General's Office and the Police itself participate.
"Recurrent of cases of violence and police abuse".
López said that according to reports from the National Police itself, the district administration has 137 complaints of police abuse so far in 2020, but said that the Police say they are aware of and are processing only 38 complaints.
“It is frankly incomprehensible that at the human rights table in which the Police have participated since January, we have been talking about 137 cases for nine months at this point, and yet when the Police are asked to account for what they have done regarding the 137 they tell us to he has knowledge of 38, ”said López.
They ask for police reform
In addition, the mayor of Bogotá advocated for a police reform, something that, according to Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo, said is being carried out.
“This reform purpose is being advanced, it has concretions, it has frameworks, decisions have been made and of course, in light of the realities, progress will continue in that direction because here what it is about is that Colombians have a strong police force. , respected and loved whose source of legitimacy is transparency, which is what guarantees the support, affection and affection of Colombians ”.
Meanwhile, President Iván Duque said that "there can be no tolerance when the uniform or authority is abused," but highlighted the "gallant, ironclad" attitude of the Police and security institutions "to carry out investigations , so that progress can be made quickly and that the rules are applied as they should be ”.
Outrage against the police
The security and police expert Juan Carlos Ruiz, who is a professor at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, says that the demonstrations are part of an "outrage against the police for the images that were seen" and for the actions of the police .
However, it considers that the attacks on the facilities could affect the actions of the police later on.
“There are subversive elements that are organizing a frontal attack against the police and against the CAI, which are an anchor to the ground that the police have in different neighborhoods and when a CAI is eliminated, obviously the activity and actions of the police are very limited, ”Ruiz said.
The expert pointed out problems within the police, such as a lack of application of the protocols, a lack of serious citizen oversight, and a lack of hierarchical control.
"It seems that this control is not given on the ground and it seems that neither at the executive level nor at the official level there are the tools or the desire to control subordinates who are on the ground, which was what happened yesterday", Ruiz pointed out.
- With information from Diana Castrillón, Melissa Velásquez Loaiza, Florencia Trucco, Abel Alvarado, Carolina Melo and Fernando Ramos from CNN en Español.
Protests in Bogotá