Justin Bieber's visit to Bogota opened doors for Colombian graffiti artists The 19-year-old Canadian heartthrob gave a concert on an October night and then took to the streets of this capital, wearing a hoodie and spray-painting a Canadian maple leaf atop a marijuana leaf alongside a tribute to his dead hamster, Pac. It all happened under the watchful eye of the metropolitan police, whose officers served as security detail. Bieber's night out, which received heavy coverage and both scandalized and delighted the city's residents, has unintentionally seemed to open a door for Rodriguez and his fellow artists. A day before Bieber left to give a concert and spray-paint the walls of the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, the national chief of police here said officers "have to evolve and see graffiti as an artistic expression of a feeling, of a motivation." "Someone who paints graffiti wants to tell us something, and we have to listen," chief Rodolfo Palomino said on radio, much to the delight of artists such as Rodriguez. Now, hundreds of street artists have taken the police chief at his word, organizing into groups of up to 300 and using paint brushes, spray cans, stickers and stencils to cover walls in Bogota, Cali, Medellin and other big Colombian cities. Artists have planned events replicating the gatherings in smaller cities as well. This week, the young graffiti artists have planned meetings to discuss how to transform their protests of what they call the police's hypocritical treatment of Bieber into a broader movement for more rights for graffiti artists. "Now, there's more tranquility between us and the police, and we feel like we have a little more power," said Rodriguez, 30, a goateed artist who took up street art at age 16 and now teaches kids spray-painting. The weekend after Bieber left, Rodriguez and 300 others went to the same stark highway walls near city hall where he painted. Within 24 hours, they had created 700 vibrant images and messages. They demanded the same respect as police gave to Bieber. "Justin Bieber did not do this," said Essehomo Pino, who works for a local hip-hop community center called La Familia Ayara that helps poor youths. It could have been anyone. He was just a catalyst. The Bieber drama has helped legitimize the street artists" work, said Jeyffer Lozano, alias Don Popo, who heads La Familia Ayara. "When police officers asked them to leave, they asked them, "Why not protect us like you did with Justin Bieber? Why not listen to your own police chief?" " Lozano said. "Also, they are asking society, "Why persecute our youth who are expressing themselves, mobilizing for good, creating beauty?" " City officials are struggling to explain how officers permitted the international artist to spray-paint to his heart's content. Mayor Gustavo Petro, who has been tolerant of graffiti, said officers assigned to Bieber were primarily there to protect him. "If that boy had gone out alone on Bogota's streets and something happened to him, you'd be asking a very different question," Petro said on radio.