RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Twitter hid a tweet by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for violating the rules of the social network by “glorifying violence”, as it incited to use weapons against protesters, despite the complaints that were repeated on the day of protests on Wednesday for police brutality.
“Taking into account the context of the current situation in Colombia, we have actioned that Tweet, for violation of the Twitter Rules,” the social network estimated.
In the message, the right-wing former president appealed to the “right of soldiers and police to use their weapons to defend their integrity,” which the social network considered could inspire third parties to commit acts of violence.
They, therefore, asked Uribe to remove the message and, in the meantime, hid it so that it would no longer be disseminated and shared.
“According to international standards, the police can only use firearms as a last resort to prevent a certain threat to life or physical integrity,” America’s director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), José Miguel Vivanco, responded to the former president (2002-2010).
This controversy comes after the massive demonstrations against the tax reform that the Government wants to approve, which took place since Wednesday in many cities of Colombia and continued on Thursday and Friday with lower attendance, and which were generally peaceful but ended with violent episodes between the Police Anti-Riot Squad (Esmad) and the demonstrators in Cali and Bogota.