‘No’ to martial law
Thousands turn out at rival rallies for and against president
Thousands of Filipinos, both for and against President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war and martial-law threats, take to the streets of Manila.
MANILA: Thousands of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s critics and supporters held rival rallies, taking emotional national debates over his deadly drug war and martiallaw threats to the streets.
Police in battle gear were mustered to keep order as protesters held a series of rallies across the capital of Manila yesterday, using the 45th anniversary of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos imposing martial law to warn that Duterte was equally violent and authoritarian.
“Our country is turning into a graveyard. People are getting killed every day and we bury the dead every day, just like in the time of Marcos,” antiDuterte protest leader Pedro Gonzales said.
But supporters of Duterte also turned up in large numbers, reflecting his popularity with many Filipinos who see him as a charismatic, antiestablishment politician who is their best chance to quell crime and corruption.
Duterte vowed in last year’s election campaign to eradicate illegal drugs in society by killing up to 100,000 traffickers and addicts.
Since he assumed office 15 months ago, police have reported killing more than 3,800 people in antidrug operations.
The crackdown has triggered wider violence, with thousands of other people being murdered in unexplained circumstances that rights groups partly attribute to vigilante death squads.
Gonzales led about 300 people to the gate of the Philippine military headquarters.
Hoisting “No to Martial Law” and “Stop the Killings” banners, they burnt a poster bearing a composite picture of Duterte and Marcos and captioned “Fascist”, as unarmed policemen blocked their way.
Police said thousands of antiDuterte protesters as well as his supporters later gathered outside the Malacanang presidential palace.
The antiDuterte crowd burned a “Rody’s Cube”, wooden block art styled after the Rubik’s Cube 3D puzzle with the interchangeable faces of Marcos and Duterte.
The protesters were backed by the political opposition and leaders of the Catholic Church, the Asian country’s dominant religion, signalling a rising opposition to the president.
Vicepresident Leni Robredo and Duterte’s predecessor Benigno Aquino, both critics of the incumbent leader, attended a separate mass for the drug war dead yesterday.
“The good part of this is that there are so many people concerned, of different ages,” Aquino told reporters.
Manila police said about 5,000 people took part in the antiDuterte protest near the palace, where about 3,000 supporters of the president also gathered nearby.
A proDuterte rally attended by 12,000 people was held in front of a Catholic church just over a kilometre away, police added. — AFP