After a detailed reconstruction of the protests of May 3 in Siloé, Amnesty International (AI) demonstrated that the public force intentionally attacked the demonstrators.
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For this, the international organization had the support of the firm SITU Research, with which they analyzed more than 200 videos and audiovisual material. They also interviewed witnesses to the event in which three people died from firearms, including soccer player Kevin Agudelo.
“Our meticulous digital reconstruction of the Siloé events reveals how Colombian security forces intentionally targeted peaceful protesters in order to punish, injure and kill them,” said Erika Guevara, Americas director at AI.
He assured that this fact was part of ‘Operation Siloé’, where the agency demonstrated that “the Police did not face an imminent threat of violence and that their use of lethal weapons was not justified.”
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Amnesty International also found evidence indicating that both the Police and Esmad used prohibited ammunition against civilians.
“The organization verified videos taken before the attack and was able to determine that there were police officers present near the scene of Kevin’s death and that they were firing 5.56mm Tavor rifles,” AI explained in a press release, in which it also It specifies that “there was no imminent threat of violence that could not reasonably be dealt with by the security forces with more proportionate measures.”
Hundreds of Australians of Ukrainian descent joined those with Russian heritage to demonstrate against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in downtown Sydney on Friday.
It was an act of solidarity many thousands of kilometers away from the conflict in Ukraine.
Protesters held signs urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the killing.
The Australian government has joined the international condemnation of the Russian attack.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison also condemned China for undermining Western sanctions against Russia.
In early February, China’s president, Xi Jinping, and Putin agreed to boost trade ties.
Australia insists the agreement was aimed at undermining the United States’ network of global alliances and any sanctions that it would impose on Russia.
Morrison urged China to act responsibly.
“You don’t go and throw a lifeline to Russia in the middle of a period when they are invading another country,” he said. “That is simply unacceptable from the reports that we have seen, and I would urge all nations to say this is not a time to be easing trade restrictions with Russia. We should all be doing the exact opposite.”
A Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson suggested Thursday the attack should not be called an “invasion” because Russia was only targeting Ukrainian military bases.
Morrison had previously described Russian invaders as “thugs” and “bullies.”
Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton has said that China’s President Xi might be one of the few global leaders who could persuade his Russian counterpart to halt the invasion.
The Australian government will send medical supplies, financial support and military equipment, but not weapons, to Ukraine to help its fight against Russia.
The Russian embassy in the Australian capital, Canberra, has said sanctions imposed by Australia were “xenophobic.”
After Russian troops invaded Ukraine Thursday morning, Americans took to the streets Thursday afternoon. Groups pleading for peace and for an end to the war protested across the country. VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti has our story. Camera: Michael Eckels, Scott Stearns and Ihar Tsikhanenka
WINDSOR, ONTARIO — The busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing reopened late Sunday after protests against COVID-19 restrictions closed it for almost a week, while Canadian officials held back from a crackdown on a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa.
Detroit International Bridge Co. said in a statement that “the Ambassador Bridge is now fully open allowing the free flow of commerce between the Canada and US economies once again.” Esther Jentzen, spokeswoman for the company, said in a later text to The Associated Press that the bridge reopened to traffic at 11 p.m. EST.
The crossing normally carries 25% of all trade between the two countries, and the blockade on the Canadian side had disrupted business in both countries, with automakers forced to shut down several assembly plants.
Police in Windsor, Ontario, said earlier in the day that more than two dozen people had been peacefully arrested, seven vehicles towed and five seized as officers cleared the last demonstrators from near the bridge, which links the city — and numerous Canadian automotive plants — with Detroit.
The protest in Ottawa, meanwhile, has paralyzed downtown, infuriated residents who are fed up with police inaction and turned up pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who presided at a Cabinet meeting late Sunday.
The demonstrations have reverberated across Canada and beyond, with similar convoys in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that truck convoys may be in the works in the United States.
Don Stephens, 65, a retired graphic designer, holds a sign on Parliament Hill to support trucks lined up in protest of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions in Ottawa, Ontario, on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
The Ambassador Bridge had remained closed for most of the day despite the break up of the protest as a heavy snowstorm blanketed the area. Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens had said the span would open once authorities determined it was safe to do so.
Canada’s industry minister, François-Philippe Champagne, welcomed the development, saying on Twitter: “Good news. Glad to see that the Ambassador Bridge is now reopened.”
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Sunday acknowledged the seemingly peaceful resolution to the demonstration, which it said had “widespread damaging impacts” on the “lives and livelihoods of people” on both sides of the border.
“We stand ready to support our Canadian partners wherever useful in order to ensure the restoration of the normal free flow of commerce can resume,” Homeland Security Advisor Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall said in a statement.
In Ottawa, which is about 500 miles northeast of Windsor, Mayor Jim Watson said Sunday the city struck a deal with protesters who have jammed downtown streets for more than two weeks that will see them move out of residential areas in the next 24 hours.
Watson said he agreed to meet with demonstrators if they confined their protest to an area around Parliament Hill and moved their trucks and other vehicles out of residential neighborhoods by noon Monday.
The mayor shared a letter from one of the protest’s organizers, Tamara Lich, in which she said demonstrators “agree with your request” to focus activities at Parliament Hill. But Lich later denied there was an agreement, saying in a tweet: “No deal has been made. End the mandates, end the passports. That is why we are here.”
Watson added in his letter to protesters that residents are “exhausted″ and “on edge” due to the demonstrations and warns that some businesses are teetering on the brink of permanent closure because of the disruptions.
The ranks of protesters had swelled to what police said were 4,000 demonstrators by Saturday, and a counter-protest of frustrated Ottawa residents attempting to block the convoy of trucks from entering the downtown emerged Sunday.
Clayton Goodwin, a 45-year-old military veteran who was among the counter-protesters, said it was time for residents to stand up against the protesters.
“I’m horrified that other veterans would be down there co-opting my flag, co-opting my service,” said Goodwin, who is the CEO of the Veterans Accountability Commission, a nonprofit advocacy group. “It’s a grift. The city was free. We’re 92% vaccinated. We’re ready to support our businesses.”
Colleen Sinclair, another counter-protester, said the demonstrators have had enough time to have their discontent heard and need to move on — with police force, if it comes down to it.
“They’re occupiers. People are scared to go to work, too scared to leave their homes,” she said. “This is not how you get your voice heard. This is domestic terrorism and we want you out of our city. Go home.”
The city has seen similar expansions of the protest on past weekends, and loud music played as people milled about downtown where anti-vaccine demonstrators have been encamped since late January, to the frustration of local residents.
“It just feels like I’m living in a different country, like I’m in the States,” said Shannon Thomas, a 32-year-old teacher. “It just makes me really sad to see all these people waving Canadian flags and acting like patriots when it’s really the most sad and embarrassing thing I’ve ever seen.”
Trudeau has so far rejected calls to use the military, but had said that “all options are on the table” to end the protests. Trudeau has called the protesters a “fringe” of Canadian society. Both federal and provincial politicians have said they can’t order police what to do.
Major-General Steve Boivin, commander of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, said Sunday that two of his special forces soldiers were supporting the protests in Ottawa and were in the “process of being released” from service. Boivin said the activity goes against the military’s values and ethics.
On Friday, a judge ordered an end to the blockade at the crossing in Windsor and Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency allowing for fines of 100,000 Canadian dollars and up to one year in jail for anyone illegally blocking roads, bridges, walkways and other critical infrastructure.
Partial closures at the bridge started on Feb. 7 and by midweek the disruption was so severe that automakers began shutting down or reducing production. The standoff came at a time when the industry is already struggling to maintain production in the face of pandemic-induced shortages of computer chips and other supply-chain disruptions.
“We are protesting the government taking away our rights,” said Windsor resident Eunice Lucas-Logan. “We want the restrictions removed. We have to wait to find out.”
The 67-year-old has been out supporting the protest for the past four days. She said she appreciated that police have been patient.
People demonstrating against COVID-19 restrictions stay warm with blankets and a fire during frigid temperatures on Wellington Street in the Parliament Hill area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
On the other side of the country, a major truck border crossing between Surrey, British Columbia, and Blaine, Washington, was closed Sunday, a day after Canadian authorities said a few vehicles had breached police barricades and a crowd entered the area by foot.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Sunday afternoon four people had been arrested for “mischief” during the protest. Some people who stayed overnight had packed up and left, but the border crossing and roads in the area remained closed.
A border blockade that began in Coutts, Alberta, north of Sweet Grass, Montana, on Jan. 29 remained in place as well. Police issued more than 50 traffic tickets Saturday and continued issuing them Sunday, RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said.
Officers also intercepted and disabled three excavators that were being brought to the protest, Savinkoff said.
“Had those made their way to the blockade, it would only have compounded the unfortunate situation we’re facing at the border,” he said.
While the protesters are decrying vaccine mandates for truckers and other COVID-19 restrictions, many of Canada’s public health measures, such as mask rules and vaccine passports for getting into restaurants and theaters, are already falling away as the omicron surge levels off.
About 90% of truckers in Canada are vaccinated, and trucker associations and many big-rig operators have denounced the protests. The U.S. has the same vaccination rule for truckers crossing the border, so it would make little difference if Trudeau lifted the restriction.
Pandemic restrictions have been far stricter there than in the U.S., but Canadians have largely supported them. The vast majority of Canadians are vaccinated, and the COVID-19 death rate is one-third that of the United States.
Meanwhile, Biden, in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Sunday ahead of the Super Bowl, struck a critical tone when asked about those likely to object to the mask mandate at the NFL championship game.
“I love how people talk about personal freedom,” he said. “If you’re exercising personal freedom, but you put someone else in jeopardy, their health in jeopardy, I don’t consider that being very good with freedom.”
A caravan of vehicles drove through Minneapolis demanding justice in the death of Amir Locke, the 22-year old Black man who was fatally shot by Minneapolis police as officers served a no-knock search warrant.
Sunday’s caravan of about 50 vehicles was organized by the Racial Justice Network and other police accountability groups.
Some in the caravan then gathered in a neighborhood outside what’s believed to be the home of interim Police Chief Amelia Huffman. They chanted the names of Locke as well as Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was killed by Kentucky police during a no-knock raid in 2020.
They also called for Huffman’s resignation, the Star Tribune reported.
“We’re asking for her job,” said activist Toussaint Morrison over a microphone outside the home, “because it seems like the only time they pay attention is when it affects their jobs or their money. But we pull up when it affects our lives.”
The gathering follows a march Saturday that drew hundreds of demonstrators to the streets of Minneapolis. The protesters met outside the Hennepin County Government Center before marching through downtown streets.
Locke was fatally shot Wednesday when a SWAT team entered a downtown Minneapolis apartment without knocking.
A police bodycam video shows an officer kicking the couch where Locke’s family said he was sleeping. On the video, he is seen wrapped in a blanket, beginning to move, with a pistol in his hand just before an officer fires his weapon.
Locke’s parents, Andre Locke and Karen Wells, say their son was “executed” after he was startled from a deep sleep and reached for a legal firearm to protect himself.
