- Title: COLOMBIA: BUS AND TAXI DRIVERS STAGE A DAY-LONG STRIKE IN BOGOTA
- Date: 29th April 1999
- Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA(APRIL 28, 1999) (REUTERS) 1. LAS COMMUTERS STRANDED 0.04 2. TV OF COMMUTERS CLIMBING ONTO BACK OF CARGO TRUCK 0.10 3. SLV COMMUTERS TRYING TO CATCH A LIFT 0.15 4. TV OF COMMUTERS ON CARGO TRUCK 0.24 5. SLD STRANDED COMMUTERS, SOME ON TRUCK 0.29 6. LV OF POLICE STANDING AMONG STRANDED COMMUTERS (2 SHOTS) 0.38 7. SV COMMUTERS GETTING ON TRUCK 0.47 8. LV/SLV STRANDED COMMUTERS (3 SHOTS) 1.03 9. SLV POLICE CLASHING WITH PROTESTORS, BEATING THEM WITH STICKS 1.15 10. SLV PROTESTORS THROWING TEAR GAS AND ROCKS AT COPS (2 SHOTS) 1.27 11. MCU (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTOR SAYING "We were standing here and then the police came and used tear gas on us and shot at us with the weapons they were carrying." 1.35 12. CU EBRIS ON THE STREET PAN TO PROTESTORS 1.41 13. MCU (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTOR SAYING "We were just standing here and then the police came and started shooting tear gas at us." 1.51 14. LV POLICE CHASING PROTESTORS 2.01 15. SLV OF VEHICLES DESTROYED BY PROTESTORS (3 SHOTS) 2.12 16. PAN PROTESTORS GATHERED IN PLAZA, POLICE BOARDING VAN 2.21 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 14th May 1999 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
- Country: Colombia
- Reuters ID: LVA91DAR89J19J0Q3WWU0DEW93WM
- Story Text: Bus and taxi drivers have staged a day-long strike in
the Colombian capital, stranding thousands of commuters in a
growing wave of labour unrest already affecting schools and
hospitals across the country.
The transport stoppage on Wednesday (April 28), by
some 12,000 buses and 5,000 taxis, came amid nationwide
strikes by 250,000 teachers and 115,000 health workers, who
are battling government policies they fear will mean public
sector job cuts and privatisations.
Bogota police chief Gen.Argemiro Serna said 95 percent of
the capital's buses and taxis heeded Wednesday's strike call.
In many of the poorer neighbourhoods of southern Bogota
people clambered aboard cargo trucks in an effort to get to
and from work, paying about 1.25 U.S.dollars for the ride
compared to their regular 40 cent bus fare.
Commuters in upscale districts of northern Bogota,
meanwhile, travelled by car or pedalled to work through the
drizzle on mountain bikes.
In some areas protesters smashed the windows of buses that
defied the strike, while riot police clashed with protesters
in Bogota.
Police said a 1,000-strong gang of demonstrators went on a
rampage in a working-class neighbourhood in the southern part
of the capital, smashing the windows of shops and banks.Other
protesters torched a bus belonging to the municipal phone
company as it transported workers.
The strike was a demonstration against Bogota Mayor Enrique
Penalosa's so-called "Trans-Millennium" project to overhaul
the capital's public transport system in 2000.
Drivers fear the plan, aimed at replacing smaller buses in
this city of six million inhabitants with fewer, larger
vehicles would force many of them into the growing ranks of
the unemployed.Urban unemployment across the country now
stands at an all-time high of 19.5 percent.
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