Hundreds of motorcyclists protested this Thursday in several streets of Bogota against Town hall to extend until next December the rule that prohibits men as passengers in those vehicles during weekend nights. The reason for the decision? Security reasons.
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Said restriction, which entered into force on April 22, governs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next day, for reduce robberies and street robberies, since many of these crimes are committed by pairs that move on motorcycles.
By means of a decree, the Mayor’s Office of Bogota confirmed that the restriction will be in force until December and not until June as had been agreed with the motorcyclists at the time.
In response, the drivers of those vehicles who announced that the “protests will continueuntil the measure is repealed.
“We disagree with the district administration because it failed to comply with what we had already agreed“he told the agency. EFE the director of the Bogota Motorcycle Support Network, Gustavo Londoño, one of the organizers of the mobilization.
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According to Londoño, the authorities “they unilaterally made a decision to extend the restriction on male motorcycle companions on weekends and we were supposed to have reconciled it“.
The union leaders maintain that the mayor of Bogotá, claudia lopez, did not comply with what was agreed last April, when the ban came into force.
On that occasion, López agreed to establish a dialogue with the union to reach an agreement on the measure, which, after the talks, was made more flexible with some exceptions.
Still, in the last week, the District argued that the implementation of the standard showed a reduction in the main indicators regarding insecurity in May and June.
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Londoño, for his part, assured that the drop in insecurity rates was not due to the restrictions on motorcycle companions, but rather because the country had the election of President and therefore the security of the country is reinforced.
“The strong foot increased, (with) helicopters all over the city, Army, Police. Obviously the figures (of insecurity) were going to go downLondono said.
The participants in the protest came from various parts of the city and most of the groups converged around the Virgilio Barco library, where they launched harangues against Mayor López.
Unlike other opportunities, mobility in Bogotá did not suffer major effects and only in some sectors were there traffic jams because motorcyclists traveled through places where works are being carried out for the Bogotá Metro.
TransMilenium, Bogotá’s public transport system, It worked almost normally because only some stations were closed preventively.
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EFE
