This archive report was first published on 9 December 2019.
On a chilly December morning in 2019, the streets of Bogota, Colombia, erupted in a sea of protests as thousands of people, including musicians, demanded change.
With concert stages along the route and bands playing, the march was a powerful display of dissent against the government's economic policies, unemployment, and corruption.
"The streets will not be silenced!" read a slogan written in chalk on the sidewalk, echoing the determination of the protesters.
Among the protesters was Alejandra Obregon, a 27-year-old university student, who pushed for greater access to public education.
"The government has just been indifferent. It doesn't want to listen to us, it doesn't want to sit down and talk, it wants to impose," Obregon said.
The protests, which began as a general strike less than three weeks ago, have morphed into a wider display of discontent over the government's handling of the country's economic and social issues.
Protesters want the former leftist rebels to fully comply with the peace deal, an end to targeted killings of indigenous people, social leaders, and former guerrillas, and the dismantling of the feared ESMAD riot police.
Though mostly peaceful, the protests have left a trail of destruction, with four people dead, about 500 protesters and military injured, and more than 200 people arrested.
President Duque has yielded to some of the other demands, including the return of Value Added Tax to the poorest 20 percent of the population and benefits for companies that hire young people.
