Colombian Students Protest, Ask People to Join Movement

Around 40 representatives of students movement in Colombia hold a peaceful protest Wednesday in which they occupied one of the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior in the capital city of Bogota in defense of public education.

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The protestors called for resources for higher education and demanded that the government comply with the Peace Agreement between the state and the ex-guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People's Army (FARC).

The protesting students urged the people to join the national mobilization Thursday called by the student body, the teachers, and the trade unions of Colombia. The mobilization will take place to protest against the tax reform of the government of President Ivan Duque which includes taxing necessity goods while providing a tax cut for corporations.

They also called on the Congress, human rights organizations, and the United Nations to  'verify the violent actions of the police and the Mobile Anti-Disturbances Squadron (ESMAD) in the treatment of social protest'.

This call came after student and workers’ union met with police repression during a protest Thursday.

The national march was organized by Colombia's Central Workers' Union, the teachers' union (Fecode), and Colombia's student movement, which declared a national strike in early October to demand a higher budget for Colombia's historically underfunded public university system. Other social sectors, including pensioners and transport workers, joined Thursday's march to reject President Ivan Duque's tax reform.

The Bogota Metropolitan Police, Colonel Javier Martin told Radio Caracol Nacional that after the demonstration the exit of the students was carried out peacefully. He also added that a perimeter was provided by the police for the students to leave and till that time, everything was under control.