The mayor of Bogota, Claudia López published a video rejecting the vandalism of several hooded women that, on Wednesday night, they threw Molotov cocktails and tried to burn the Primate Cathedral of Bogotá, located in the middle of Plaza de Bolívar. In his tweet, he also criticized the response of the Bogotá Metropolitan Police.
The day of demonstrations on the day of legal and safe abortion ended in a serious act of intolerance and violence. A group of vandals tried to set fire to the entrance of the Primate Cathedral, before the impassive gaze of some district officials, known as Coexistence Managers.
López, in his trill, went head-on against the Police and questioned the way in which they acted in the face of this act of vandalism and assured that instead of taking the legal measures to prevent this attack, they dedicated themselves to recording.
He also asked the authorities if the passivity with which they witnessed the event is due to an order from their “national command”
“This is vandalism. It has and deserves social and legal sanction. This video was sent to me by the commander of @PoliciaBogota Why instead of recording did they not apply the district protocol and the Law? I ask with respect, do you have the order from your national command to let go and let go? ”, Indicated the district president in her message.
In videos that have circulated on social networks, you can see the aggressiveness and hatred with which, amid whistles, the protesters celebrate having been able to ignite a huge flare.
What did the Police respond to Mayor Claudia López?
The director of the Police, General Henry Armando Sanabria, In dialogue with different media, he assured contrary to what the mayor pointed out, his men did act and prevent these excesses from being much more serious.
The officer confirmed that four women were captured as a result of these events, and they will try to point them out the crimes of riot, damage to another’s property, throwing of dangerous objects and assault on a public servant.
“On their way they made graffiti, destroyed windows of certain commercial establishments and what the Police did at that time was to act by dispersing these women so that they would not continue to harm and seek to capture them”, explained the officer.
In response to Mayor Claudia López’s question about whether “they have the order of their national command to let do and let pass”, Sanabria was emphatic in pointing out that they have never received any instruction other than that of enforcing the law under the established principles for the use of force.
“No, and the president, publicly and privately, in security councils, and the ministers of Defense and the Interior, always agree on the same thing and that is to enforce the constitution and the law. We have very great powers to act under the three principles when it comes to the use of force: necessity, rationality, and proportionality,” the officer explained.
The video of the capture
Minutes after knowing the trill of the mayor López, From the official account of the Bogotá Metropolitan Police they shared a video in which part of the operation is seen which was carried out to stop the act of vandalism against the Cathedral.
“#ATTENTION In the midst of the demonstrations the night before, hooded women tried to set fire to the main door of the Primada Cathedral in #Bogota. The timely reaction of the Police allowed the situation to be controlled.”, reads the account of General Carlos Fernando Triana, commander of the Police of the capital.
In the video the arrival of the motorized uniformed men to the Cathedral is seen and dispersing the protesters who tried to set it on fire.