A policy of making men and women leave their homes on alternate days during lockdown in Bogotá is fuelling violence towards the transgender community by the police and the public, activists say. The mayor of the Colombian capital, Claudia López, announced last month that women were permitted to go outdoors for essential tasks on even-numbered days and men on odd-numbered days, in an effort to limit numbers on the streets. Trans people are allowed to go out according to their gender identity and the city authorities said no one would be asked to show proof of sex. But, says Juli Salamanca, a transgender woman from the Red Comunitaria Trans organisation, the policy known as pico y género (peak and gender) has put trans and non-binary people at risk. The network has recorded 20 violent incidents against trans people in supermarkets during lockdown, including a trans woman who was beaten by a man who said she was not allowed out on the women’s day. It has also received reports of violence by police in the Santa Fe district, where hundreds of trans women work in the sex trade. “Every day in Bogotá there are incidents of violence against trans people and there are hundreds of incidents that have gone unpunished,” she said. “This [policy] puts the trans community in the hands of its main aggressor – the police – who have historically abused, tortured and killed trans people. “The city has given the police the weapons to control and do gender profiling of trans people, and now this is translating into the same from people in supermarkets, banks and society in general, where trans people are being prevented from entering places because they don’t conform to the stereotype of what is a man or woman.” She said: “In a city like Bogotá, where trans women continue to be killed for saying they are free women, it is irresponsible to introduce a policy that is reinforcing prejudices, not only on the streets but in everyday speech and on social media.” Calling for the policy to be dropped, the organisation said: “The separation by sex in times of Covid-19 is putting our lives and safety at risk.” In the eight years to 2016, 74% of all reported murders of trans people were in Central and South America, according to a report from Transgender Europe. Cristina Rodriguez Romero, a transgender woman from feminist organisation Fondo Lunaria, said many trans women were reporting physical attacks or verbal abuse in the streets by people who claimed they had no right be outside on that day. “We live in a transphobic society. This problem has not been caused by this measure but without doubt the situation has been aggravated by it,” she said, adding that the rule entitled anyone to “pronounce judgment on and invalidate” trans people. “The policy has also strengthened stereotypes of women as carers, domestic workers, as homemakers, looking after the needs of their husbands, parents and children, placing a huge burden on them with implications for their sexual and reproductive rights … but our rights are not in quarantine.” The policy is currently due to expire on 11 May but could be extended. Salamanca said the mayor had failed to learn from other countries where gender-based lockdown rules had fuelled violence against trans people. In Peru between 2-11 April men and women were told to go out on different days. President Martín Vizcarra announced the policy saying: “The armed forces and national police will not use this measure as a pretext for homophobic conduct.” Restrictions were dropped after reports of abuse of the LGBT community, particularly transgender women. A widely circulated video showed three trans women being humiliated at a police station in Lima. Police made the women squat on the ground and repeat the words: “I want to be a man.” “When the gendered quarantine began, the inequality gap widened for us. I was very scared of going out to buy food and getting detained by the police,” said Isabella Fernandez from Féminas, a trans women’s organisation in Lima that is currently supporting trans sex workers with food and other essentials during the pandemic. “The police have always been the main perpetrators of violence against us. Not even the president’s words nor the human rights manual that was handed to them could change this reality. It is difficult to prove an act of discrimination without evidence. It’s always your word against theirs. I changed my name on my DNI (national ID) but it still says sex: male.”