For more than a month now, tens of thousands of Colombians have been marching against the right-wing government, demanding income equality and an end to police violence and corruption.
The deadly protests began on 28 April, sparked by an unpopular tax reform criticised for hitting Colombia's low and middle class the hardest.
Authorities say at least 61 people have died since, mostly civilians but including two police officers, with at least three officers facing murder charges.
The protest movement has largely been made up of young people, though it's not just them taking to the streets - those in rural areas, unions and Indigenous groups have also been joining the cause.
Protester Anna* had never taken part in demonstrations before the current uprising.
A qualified psychologist, yet unemployed and living in the epicentre of the protests, the southwestern city of Cali, the 27-year-old said she saw no other choice.
"As a ... citizen of this country, it's a duty that we all have, to go out and say what's not right," she told SBS News from Cali.
"You see the young people now fighting and those on the frontline, they're kids who are 18 and 20 years old who have said 'enough is enough, we want a future, and there can't be a future without education, jobs or health'."
Anna* has been protesting in Cali Source: Catalina Florez/SBS News
How did it all start?
Deep discontent has been bubbling away for some time.
Analysts say the demonstrations are a continuation of the protest movement against inequality from 2019, which was paused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elizabeth Dickinson, a senior Colombia analyst at the International Crisis Group thinktank, said the pandemic only served to highlight that inequality - as more than 42 per cent of the population is now living in poverty.
"The tax reform was really just the match that lit the fire, and I think what we're seeing right now is an accumulation of all the grievances that have existed before that have been exacerbated by the pandemic," she said.
Members of the Bari ethnic group that live in the Catatumbo area march during an anti-government protest in Cucuta, 31 May 2021. Source: AP
What's changed since the protests began?
The tax reform has been shelved and a minister has resigned.
And in another significant concession, President Ivan Duque on Sunday promised to "modernise" the police, creating a new human rights directorate and pledging more officer training and disciplinary standards.
A statement from the country's defence ministry also said there would be better follow-up on citizen "complaints", plus systematic use of ID badges and body cameras.
Investigations are already underway into 10 police officers who allowed civilians to shoot at demonstrators in Cali.
Crowds of protesters in Bogota, Colombia on 28 May 2021 Source: Sipa USA Antonio Cascio/SOPA Images/Sip
What's the diaspora's response been in Australia?
They have been watching on in despair, with many supporting the protest movement by organising their own actions.
From Brisbane to Melbourne and Sydney, vigils have been held calling for more international attention and condemnation.
"We're aiming to influence from this distance, keep telling the world, 'we're here, you're not alone'. We're doing everything we possibly can," said David Cuesta of solidarity group United for Colombia in Australia.
He said it's been hard to watch from afar.
David Cuesta at a solidarity rally in Sydney Source: Supplied
"Of course being here is very frustrating because I'd like to be there with them on the frontline supporting them."
Mr Cuesta says he understands the saying among protesters that they have lost everything, even fear.
"The people say either we die in our house of starvation or we die in the streets fighting, and they decided to die in the streets fighting," he said.
Where to now?
A delegation from the US-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights arrived for a four-day visit to the country on Sunday, as a major group representing the protesters broke off talks with the government that began in early May.
The protesters have been calling for the transfer of the police out of the remit of the defence ministry, and full implementation of a 2016 peace agreement that ended more than half a century of civil conflict - something Ms Dickinson said could be key to ending the unrest.
"It holds solutions to economic frustrations to internal reconciliation socially, giving underprivileged communities access to rights, the ability to progress socially and access to the political system," she said.
Meanwhile, Mr Duque is calling on his political opponents to condemn the dozens of roadblocks caused by the protesters, which he blames for crippling the economy and leading to food and fuel shortages.
Anna said she believes unless there's real change, the protests won't stop.
"We don't know how this will end. We don't know how many more of us they'll kill. We just don't know if we'll win or not," she said.
"Change something or we continue, it has to be that way."
*Name has been changed to protect identity.
With AFP.
