Colombians Stage Nationwide Demonstrations Against Violence

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, July 22, 2002

Colombians Stage Nationwide Demonstrations Against Violence

Hundreds of Colombians went to the streets across the country on Sunday to protest the rebel forces' deadly efforts to force state officials to step down.

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Hundreds of Colombians went to the streets across the country on Sunday to protest the rebel forces' deadly efforts to force state officials to step down.

The demonstrators were responding to a call from Bogota mayor Antanas Mockus to show their rejection to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) which is threatening to kill any official who refuses to resign.

The protesters also urged the release of prominent figures abducted by the FARC three months ago, including Guillermo Gaviria,governor of Antioquia department, and former defense minister Gilberto Echeverry.

The FARC, the largest guerrilla group in Colombia with 17,000 combatants, has demanded the resignation of officials, namely, governors, mayors and town councilors. Those who refuse to resign would then be considered as their "military targets."

The guerrilla force is said now to have de facto control of as much as half of the country. The government, which has promised tostep up security measures for local officials, has admitted the absence of law-enforcement personnel in 200 of the country's 1,098municipalities.

More than 200,000 people have been killed in Colombia's four-decade-old civil war between government troops, left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary forces.

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