The Supreme Court of Colombia denounced Thursday, February 8, the “violent and illegal blockade” of its headquarters in Bogota, at the end of a day of demonstrations by supporters of President Gustavo Petro to demand that the court choose a new attorney general.

A few thousand supporters of President Petro marched Thursday in several large cities to demand the immediate appointment by the Supreme Court of a new attorney general and the end of the mandate of the current prosecutor, whom the left leader accuses of trying to undermine him. to spill.

In Bogota, hundreds of trade unionists, members of student organizations and activists of left-wing parties gathered at the call of the Head of State, the day when the twenty-three judges of the Court voted to find a successor to the prosecutor Francisco Barbosa.

Blocked, the President of the Court denounces a “violent and illegal blockade”

In the afternoon, in the historic center of the capital, a group of demonstrators, mostly indigenous, blocked the entrances to the Court, in front of the Palace of Justice, after briefly trying to enter. This action was denounced as a “violent and illegal blockade” by the President of the Court, Gerson Chaverra, blocked with other magistrates in these premises.

“The Supreme Court of Justice categorically rejects the siege of recent hours […], it is unacceptable to besiege judges,” he told the press. “In addition to seriously affecting the right to freedom of movement, [the demonstration] endangers the lives and physical integrity of magistrates, employees, journalists and other occupants of the country’s main judicial building,” a statement said. denounced Mr. Chaverra.

Around 3 p.m. (9 p.m. in France), the police chief, General William Salmaca, went there to meet the magistrates. “I have not received any reports of violence or excessive expression of insecurity,” he told reporters before entering the Palace.

Using tear gas grenades, the police finally intervened around 5 p.m. local time to disperse the demonstrators who responded by throwing stones. The clashes quickly stopped, while a cordon of riot police took position in front of the Court premises, noted Agence France-Presse.

“The order given to the police is to clear the doors respectfully but forcefully. Period,” commented President Petro on the social network earlier.

The judges met Thursday to vote on the shortlist of three jurists presented by Petro to the Court to replace prosecutor Barbosa. The execrable relations between Barbosa and Petro have been making the political-judicial headlines for months in Colombia, with the latter denouncing attempts at “destabilization” on the part of the prosecutor and a plot “against progressivism”. On Thursday, none of the candidates obtained the necessary sixteen votes, and the Court must reconvene by the end of February to vote again.

“We are here to demand the departure of the prosecutor and that the list proposed by the president can move forward so that we finally have a prosecutor worthy of the name to confront the underworld,” Francisco Mora told AFP, a leader of the National Union of Transport Workers who participated in the march in Bogota. “We have a prosecutor who is more allied to the bandits […] a prosecutor who wants to delay the liberation process” of the country, castigated another demonstrator, Alexander Chala.

Demonstrations in Medellin, Bucaramanga and Cali

Demonstrations also took place in the cities of Medellin, Bucaramanga and Cali, where several thousand people gathered, noted an AFP photographer in the latter city.

On the X network, while the demonstration was in progress, President Petro denied wanting to influence the vote. “Today’s mobilization was not ordered by me, it is not about pressure on the Court […] If some groups desperately decide to break the institutions, there will be a response energetic and non-violent popular”, he underlined, welcoming this “beginning of the marches for decency in Colombia”.

Last weekend, Mr. Petro accused prosecutor Barbosa of seeking to overthrow him by investigating donations made by a teachers union to his election campaign. In January, prosecutors indicted Nicolas Petro, the president’s eldest son, for receiving funds from drug trafficking during the 2022 presidential campaign.