They denounce "disproportionate" Esmad intervention against indigenous people in Bogotá

File photo.

Indigenous people from the Embera communities settled in the National Park, in the center of Bogotá, fleeing the armed conflict and displaced from their territories.

(Credit: RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNN Spanish) --

A demonstration by indigenous communities in the center of Bogotá on Wednesday led to the intervention of the National Police in which the Mobile Anti-riot Squad (Esmad) launched tear gas and stun bombs against the indigenous people, including pregnant women and children, who have been settled in the National Park for months asking for food, health and housing guarantees, denounced the NGO Temblores, which monitors human rights violations.

"There was an intervention that was really very disproportionate. More than 10 stunners were heard in a few minutes," Alejandro Rodríguez, coordinator of the Grita de Temblores platform, which has followed up on cases of excessive force by the Police, told CNN. .

"It is known that in the (indigenous) community there are many young people, many children, many pregnant women with a series of internal problems that exist, but nothing justifies intervening and using these low-lethality weapons with the presence of a vulnerable population. as is the indigenous population," Rodríguez added.

• Indigenous communities block road near Bogotá National Park

As denounced by Temblores —retweeting a video that shows the National Park with women and children fleeing from what appear to be stun bombs in the hours of Wednesday night— Esmad launched gas (tear gas) and stun guns against indigenous people.

#Alert.

At this time, the Esmad is launching gas and stun guns against the indigenous people, including children, who are living in the National Park.

👇 https://t.co/XrQGy48Ry5

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– NGO tremors 🐘 (@TembloresOng) April 7, 2022

As reported by Cablenoticias, a CNN affiliate, the protest was triggered days after a teenager from the Emberá community was run over by a taxi driver in the vicinity of the National Park, near where the protesters are based.

The victim of the accident is out of danger, according to the police.

The police respond

Colonel Herbert Benavides, deputy commander of the Bogota Metropolitan Police, said in a video posted on Twitter early Thursday morning that the indigenous "used children who were being instrumentalized and placed as human shields."

He added that the intervention with Esmad occurred after more than three hours of mediation by coexistence personnel that "had no effect."

CNN tried to communicate with the Bogota Metropolitan Police to ask about the "excessive" use of force, but has not received a response so far.

They denounce the use of tear gas

In a video on Twitter from El Tiempo retweeted by the Bogotá Security Secretariat, General Eliécer Camacho, commander of the Colombian capital Police, denied that tear gas had been used to disperse the protests.

"Given the impossibility of using tear gas due to the presence of the children, six Esmad police officers were completely affected," General Camacho told the newspaper El Tiempo, indicating that six police officers from that mobile squad were injured.

Jairo Montañez, leader of the Indigenous Communities in Bacatá, who was present at the disturbances on April 6, said that the police force actually fired tear gas, injuring more than 20 people.

"Of course there was excess force, there were tear gas, stun guns. They launched everything," Montañez told CNN about Esmad's actions.

According to him, the day began with a "slowing down of traffic" with billboards on Carrera Séptima, as a measure in which they talked to people to tell them why the indigenous are present there.

He said that there was a dialogue with the Police to avoid the use of violence.

"The community goes backwards. And when the community goes backwards, they (the Esmad) advance," said Montañez, rejecting the accusations made by the police that the children were being used as "human shields."

According to Montañez, the traffic could not be released because there were children still scattered and the fences had to be put up again as a protective measure.

"That is false. They were informed that we had to pick up the children," he said about the situation of the minors.

"What separates the children from the street are the fences," continued Montañez.

"While we returned to remove the fences, they advanced and began to throw stun guns and (tear gas) at us."

According to him, there are 1,500 indigenous people who are settled in the National Park.

40% of these are children, assured Martínez.

The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia, ONIC, published a video in the early hours of April 7 showing a group of people confronting the security forces, and apparent tear gas can also be seen on the Seventh Avenue in Bogotá.

🚨#ATTENTION

From @ONIC_Colombia we denounce the intervention of the #ESMAD of the @PoliciaColombia who at this time repress with violence and without respect for human rights the families of the Embera People of the #ParqueNacional de Bogotá#SOSPueblosIndigenas pic.twitter.com/5yNW5MOfS3

– National Indigenous Organization of Colombia - ONIC (@ONIC_Colombia) April 7, 2022

The indigenous senator Feliciano Valencia published a video on his Twitter account denouncing Esmad's aggression against the indigenous community on Wednesday night.

In this you can see what are presumably tear gas and a group of people fleeing stun bombs.

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Clashes leave several injured

The clashes between the Police and protesters left around twenty indigenous people injured, including women and children, 10 officials from the Bogotá Mayor's Office, one from the Ombudsman's Office and eight police officers, Esmeralda Caro, an official from the Bogotá Personería, reported Thursday. .

In a series of tweets, the Personería added that there were records of damage to buses, private vehicles and an ambulance that were vandalized.

"The confrontation scenario leaves an unfortunate report of injuries to women, children, public officials and members of Esmad," the Personería said in a tweet on Wednesday night.

According to Cablenoticias, a CNN affiliate, the protest was triggered days after a teenager from the Emberá community was run over by a taxi driver near the National Park.

The victim of the accident is out of danger, according to the police.

The Personería de Bogotá said this Wednesday that the indigenous communities that are camped in the National Park blocked the highway from Carrera 7th to 36th Street.

Fifteen indigenous peoples arrived in Bogotá at the end of September 2021 and ask for guarantees of food, health and housing.

-- With information from Gerardo Lemos, Florencia Trucco of CNN en Español. 

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