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Protesters say that police attacks were retribution for their sustained defiance to the Colombian government, an entity they refer to as being racist.
The fourth day of a civil strike in the Colombian state of Choco ceased being peaceful on Saturday. Clashes between Colombia's special police force, ESMAD, and strikers broke out on the Pinal Bridge and in the local community of La Delfina.
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According to El Espectador, while dozens of protesters, mainly children and senior citizens, gathered on the Pinal Bridge, about 20 police bikes and trucks appeared. Subsequently, a group of ESMAD security forces attempted to disperse the peaceful gathering by throwing tear gas into the crowd.
Clashes broke out between the two groups. Protestors said that the police action was retribution for their sustained defiance to the House of Nariño, Colombia's presidential seat of government.
The most serious clashes erupted in La Delfina community, roughly 25 miles from Buenaventura. There, uniformed ESMAD launched tear gas into the crowd of protestors and, according to demonstrators, resorted to violence to break up the strike.
A WhatsApp audio broadcast recorded by one of the strike organizers warned demonstrators that ESMAD had already entered La Delfina, saying that people had been “gassed.” Several people were injured by tear gas inhalation, including two children who were transferred to a local clinic.
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Another protester stated that “they (ESMAD) are coming all along the highway and the community trapped in the area are beaten and roughed up.”
The general mood in Choco was already bitter since early Saturday morning. Government officials and strike organizers who met to discuss solutions to the general strike hadn't reached an agreement concerning the basic demands of the people. They included access to improved health care, decent housing, clean drinking water, improved public transportation and a host of other issues.
It is for these reasons that the people of Choco have not abdicated from their right to resist what they call, without hesitation, a “racist state.”
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