Colombia's FARC suspends campaigning amid fears of candidates' lives
The FARC announced that they will halt campaign events until their safety can be sufficiently assured.
A demonstrator throws stones during a protest on February 7, 2018, against a campaign rally held for Rodrigo Londono Echeverri, known as "Timochenko", the presidential candidate for the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force (FARC) political party.
Colombia's former FARC rebel group, now a political party, on Friday temporarily suspended its presidential and legislative election campaigns due to security concerns after angry protests disrupted their campaign stops.
The party was formed last year after fighters demobilised under a peace deal with the government, ending more than 52 years of war.
Many Colombians remain angry at the FARC, infamous for kidnappings, bombings and displacements, and believe its members should be in prison, not campaigning.
The FARC has repeatedly raised concerns that they may be assassinated by right-wing paramilitary gangs or drug traffickers, in a replay of about 5,000 targeted killings during the 1980s, when the group first attempted to found the Patriotic Union political party.
Party leader Pablo Catatumbo said the suspension would continue until the government is able to provide adequate security for the candidates.
TRT World's Arabella Munro reports.
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