Tens of thousands of Colombians have marched in their homeland and abroad to demand that the country's largest rebel group stop kidnapping people and release those in its custody.
Many protesters wore white T-shirts with slogans that said "No More FARC," and "No More Kidnapping" Monday as they flooded the streets of Bogota for the mass rallies. Similar demonstrations took place in neighboring Venezuela as well as in Europe, Japan and the United States.
The protesters have been denouncing the Marxist rebel group's use of violence and kidnapping in its bid to overthrow the Colombian government.
Some relatives of hostages, however, said the protests could endanger their loved ones. Other people said the rallies should denounce all violent groups, including rightist paramilitaries blamed for massacres, land grabs and drug trafficking.
The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) is holding hundreds of hostages, including more than 40 high-profile captives, including French - Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans.
On Saturday, the rebels said three Colombian lawmakers who have been held captive for more than six years - Gloria Polanco, Luis Eladio Perez and Orlando Beltran - would be released because of health problems.
The FARC, however, did not elaborate on the hostages' medical condition or set a date for freeing them. Family members of the three politicians traveled to Venezuela Monday on the latest developments.
The FARC has proposed delivering the hostages to Venezuela in exchange for the release of imprisoned guerrillas.
The idea for Monday's protests began about one month ago on the social networking web site, "Facebook."
