Columbian President Iván Duque said he is sending the military to restore order in Cali.
He has taken the decision based on the events weeks of deadly protests against the government.
At least five people died on Friday night in Cali due to the anti-government movements. Moreover, it is the latest causality in a month of protests that have claimed dozen of lives.
The protests began in April over a proposed tax increase.
However, seeing the rebels, the government withdraw the proposal, but the protests didn’t stop. It grew to cover poverty, police violence and Columbia’s health crisis.
After two weeks of negotiations between the government and protesters have stalled.
Cali, which is claimed as the epicentre of this rebellion, is under curfew until Saturday morning.
Mr Duque, at a news conference, said he was sending in the maximum deployment of military assistance to the police.
He added that the deployment would almost triple their capacity throughout the state in less than 24 hours. Ensuring assistance at critical points as well, where they have witnessed acts of vandalism, low-intensity urban terrorism, and violence.
One of those killed on Friday was an off-duty officer in the Attorney General’s office. Although the man opened the fire on protesters before he was killed, Attorney General Fransisco Barbosa said in a statement.
On Saturday, a security officer in Cali said at least five people had died on Friday during the unrest. He added that a further five people had been killed in the city. However, it is unclear that these death tolls are directly related to the protests.
How did the protests begin?
The demonstrations started on 28th April and were initially in opposition to the proposed tax reform. Because it would have lessened the threshold at which payrolls are taxed.
The government argued that the reform was key to mitigating economic difficulties. But many middle-class Columbians feared that this reform could slip them into poverty as an outcome.
After four days of protests across the country, President Duque decided to withdraw the draft legislation.
However, human right groups accused police of using tear gas. Also, in some case, live ammunition to disperse the protests.
Since then dozen of lives have been lost.
