Colombia attack: Three police officers killed in bomb blast as anti-corruption protests erupt

Explosion occurred as 250,000 people gathered in Bogota to demonstrate against government graft and rights abuses

People bang pans during protests in front of the house of Colombia's President Ivan Duque, in Bogota (AFP via Getty Images)

Three police officers have been killed in a bomb blast in Colombia as thousands gathered for protests against government corruption and perceived abuses of human rights.

Ten officers were also injured in the explosion which rocked a police station in the southwestern town of Santander de Quilichao – a well-known spot for drug trafficking and violence.

As of Saturday morning, no-one had claimed – or been officially blamed – for the bombing.

But it came a day after three people died when more than 250,000 people marched on capital city Bogota to express growing discontent with the government of President Ivan Duque.

Their grievances included rumoured economic reforms that the president has denied and anger at what demonstrators say is a lack of action to stop corruption and the murder of human rights activists.

Thousands more gathered on Friday afternoon in the city’s Bolivar Plaza for a so-called cacerolazo – a traditional Latin American expression of protest in which people bang pots and pans.

“We are here to keep protesting against the Duque government,” Katheryn Martinez, a 25-year-old art student, told the Reuters news agency as she clanged a pot accompanied by her father Arturo, 55.

“It’s an inefficient government that kills children and doesn’t acknowledge it,” she said, referring to a recent bombing which was targeting rebels but actually killed eight teenagers and prompted the former defence minister to resign.

The crowd, which included families and elderly people, was abruptly dispersed by tear gas.

But protesters regrouped at nearby intersections and continued chanting, while people in other neighbourhoods gathered in celebratory cacerolazos, temporarily blocking several roads.

Posts on social media and callers into radio stations said neighbours were organising to protect homes from looters.

Several supermarkets in the city’s south were robbed on Friday as protesters, many masked, burned items in the street. Other protesters stole a public bus.

Some people were taking advantage of the protests to “sow chaos”, Mr Duque said in a televised address soon after.

He added: “From next week I will start a national conversation that will strengthen the current agenda of social policies.”

The three deaths on Thursday in Valle del Cauca province were being investigated, defence minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said on Friday, adding that two had occurred as authorities confronted looters.

“As a result of the confrontation between vandals and security forces and in events that are the subject of investigation by the attorney general’s office, two people were killed,” he said.

Though the vast majority of Thursday’s marchers participated peacefully, 98 people were arrested, while 122 civilians and 151 members of the security forces were injured, he said.

Authorities launched 11 preliminary investigations into security forces’ misconduct, Trujillo added, after social media images of protesters’ rough treatment by police, including one kicked in the face.

Additional reporting by agencies