At least four police officers were injured in Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, on Friday after protesters fired arrows and explosives outside the U.S. embassy during a demonstration against former U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies, authorities said.
“Delinquents, some of whom were hooded, attacked the embassy with incendiary devices, explosives, and arrows,” Bogotá Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán said in a statement. “Four police officers were wounded in the face, legs, and arms.”
Images released by Colombia’s defense ministry showed chaotic scenes outside the embassy, including one photo of an officer with an arrow lodged in his arm.
The demonstration was organized by a group calling itself Congreso de los Pueblos (People’s Congress). According to the group’s spokesperson, Jimmy Moreno, the protest was intended to denounce Trump’s right-wing policies and U.S. foreign interference.
“We are demonstrating for our sovereignty — no more interference from the United States — against everything the United States has been involved in: the genocide of Palestinians, its interference in Latin America, and the threats it has been making in the Caribbean… against the Venezuelan Bolivar model,” Moreno told AFP.
The protests, which began peacefully on Monday in various parts of Bogotá, only turned violent on Friday.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has clashed with Trump on several occasions this year, called for restraint following the incident. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Petro said he had “ordered maximum caution with the U.S. embassy in Bogotá.”
“A more radical group has attacked the police guarding the embassy, with several young people injured with arrows,” the president wrote.
In a subsequent statement, Congreso de los Pueblos expressed alignment with Petro’s message but urged his administration to form “an anti-imperialist front.”
