Anti-corruption protests planned for Thursday evening throughout Colombia were postponed after a car bombing killed at least nine people and injured 54 others at the national police academy in Bogota.
Organizers released a video on social media asking for people to stay at home and light a candle in solidarity with the Colombian police and in repudiation of the attack.
Discussion arose on social media questioning the convenience of this attack on the day of the second planned march calling for the resignation of Colombia’s allegedly corrupt chief prosecutor Nestor Humberto Martinez.
None the less, the organizers decided to retract their previous call for a demonstration and asked people across Colombia to reflect on current events in Colombia.
We are appalled and shocked over the cowardly attack.
Protest organizer
Urgente: aún cuando queremos manifestarnos contra la corrupción hoy debemos priorizar a las víctimas de la violencia y facilitar que la fuerza pública se concentre en la seguridad de todos. Informaremos nuevas fechas de movilización . Encendamos una vela hoy 6pm por las víctimas. pic.twitter.com/fFVuyLdU0l
— Catherine Juvinao C. (@CathyJuvinao) January 17, 2019
The hashtag #EncendamosUnaLuz (let’s light a candle) has been created to unify a call against the violence in the country.
The car bomb attack on the police academy is the deadliest explosives attack in Colombia’s capital since 2003 when now-demobilized FARC guerrillas detonated a car bomb in the exclusive Nogal club, killing 36 people.
