Ombudswoman demands punishment for Colon deaths

Panama’s National Police violated human rights and demonstration containment protocols during protests in Colon says the country’s ombudswoman .

The protests were against the law to sell land in the Colon Free Zone, leaving three dead and dozens wounded, said the ombudswomman. In a report released Thursday, November 1.

The Ombudswoman, Patria Portugal found that in the conflict "outside groups vandalized and looted, but "civil movements” protesting legitimately, were attacked with firearms by the security forces. The agency said the National Police were guilty of "failure to use proper protocols and regulations applying to the containment of public demonstrations …The security forces used firearms as outside groups had infiltrated the demonstrations firing against security officers, who responded by firing at "the torsos and faces of a diverse group of people" said the Ombudswoman. "Under the pretext of the curfew" issued by the regional government, police forces "apprehended" citizens and minors and incurred "due process violations and violations of individual freedoms."
The report of the Ombudswoman confirmed that the conflict, which lasted 11 days and seriously affecting Colon and to a lesser extent, the Panamanian capital, killed three people, including a child of 10 years and 48 including 16 shot.
Thirteen policemen were injured, said the report without specifying the nature of those injuries, which police said were shot in at least six cases.
"There must be an investigation" of deaths, and those responsible must be punished, said Portugal,