Tragedy in Bolivia: university assembly ends with at least 3 dead after detonation of tear gas

At least three students died this Monday and several dozen were injured during a human avalanche after the activation of a tear gas grenade during a student assembly at a university in bolivia.

“The university is in mourning because three university students have died as a result of this criminal disaster” and there are around 40 students injured, the rector of the Tomas Frias Autonomous University from PotosiPedro Lopez.

???????????? Three young university students die after a human avalanche in the middle of a student assembly at the Tomás Frías Autonomous University of Potosí, Bolivia. Tear gas bomb detonation caused panic. There are dozens of students injured.
pic.twitter.com/Y3ZFBP1faO

– Argolla TV ???????? (@ArgollaTV) May 9, 2022

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This Monday morning, a student assembly was scheduled to be held to approve a call for elections of representatives for the period 2022-2025, said the rector.

López assured that, in accordance with the regulations, it was a “completely student” activity, but that “has triggered a disaster” due to a “criminal act”.

In some images that spread through social networks and various media, a crowd of students is observed try to escape from a cloud of gas inside a coliseum of the potosina university.

#VideoNews
See the moment when tear gas caused an avalanche in the coliseum of the Tomás Frías Autonomous University (UATF), in #potosi. Pedro López, rector of that house of higher studies, confirmed the death of three people.
Via: To the Point News “Potosí” pic.twitter.com/a0Px080enx

– The Digital Reason (@LaRazon_Bolivia) May 9, 2022

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In an appearance before the media, the departmental commander of the Potosi PoliceBernardo Ignaldo, assured that the tragedy occurred when someone “activates a gas grenade that has produced an avalanche” inside the university coliseum and that was the cause of death.

Neither the Police nor the Rectorate of the university have confirmed the identity of the fatal victims of the event, nor has it been established to which career they belong, although various media have asserted that the deceased may be four.

In La Paz, the general commander of the Police, Jhony Aguilera, reported that an autopsy is being carried out on the bodies of the victims to establish the cause of death and whether it is due to gas poisoning or the blows received while trying to Leave the place.

The statements of some witnesses to the local media have also not been able to establish whether the gas device was activated from inside or outside the university coliseum.

“We are making the formal complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office so that it acts in the most rigorous and harshest way to be able to clarify this fact”, rthe rector remarked.

The Police have indicated that together with the aid that was granted to those affected, the investigation has also been activated to identify those responsible for these events and that “in the next few hours the results will be given.”

In March of last year, a similar event occurred at the Public University of El Alto (Upea), a neighboring city of La Paz, in which four students died after falling into the void after a riot that overcame the protective barriers of a fourth floor. in a pavilion.

That fact triggered criticism and complaints about university representations as well as the systems used by leaders to force students to participate in these assemblies under threats of deductions of points in their academic record.

Source: Elcomercio

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