© Luisa Gonzalez/ReutersA rubbish container on fire during protests after a man, who was arrested for violating social distancing rules, died from being repeatedly shocked with a stun gun by officers, according to authorities, in Bogota, Colombia
The death of a Colombian man after being repeatedly shocked with a stun gun by police who restrained him has sparked riots and protests throughout the Andean nation. The protests continued into Thursday morning and
killed at least seven and wounded more than 150, the country's defence minister said.
Javier Humberto Ordonez, a 46-year-old lawyer and father of two
was allegedly violating coronavirus social distancing rules when he became involved in an altercation with police in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
In a video posted on social media by friends who were with him, Ordonez can be heard shouting, "please, no more, I'm suffocating" as two police officers continued to restrain him with their knees on his back and repeatedly tasing him.
Ordonez was taken into police custody early on Wednesday where family members have alleged he faced more police abuse. He died in hospital soon after.Colombia had a six-month coronavirus pandemic lockdown that began in late March, with the harsh restrictions
eased two weeks ago.
Protesters took to the streets in Bogota on Wednesday afternoon, destroying the small police station that the responsible officers belonged to in the Engativa neighbourhood, in the west of the city. Violence continued and spread into the early hours of Thursday.
Bogota's Mayor Claudia Lopez called the police brutality "unacceptable", but also condemned the violence in Bogota that resulted in deaths.
Comment: Take these events with the incredible number of churches and cathedrals being violated, vandalized and burned to the ground in Europe - as well as institutional attacks against Orthodox church in Russia, the Ukraine and elsewhere, and you would not be mistaken in thinking that there is an organized attack against Christianity well underway, if not a mind-virus that would seem to compel some towards an irrational hatred of Christianity.