Anti-Trump rallyists, police clash
Police on Sunday blocked about 200 members of a militant group who are protesting the visit of US President Donald Trump from get- ting inside the lockdown zone designated for the ASEAN Summit.
The protesters from Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Timog Katagalugan were supposed to hold a two-hour rally near the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) but anti-riot policemen blocked them on Gil Puyat Avenue.
Trump was expected to arrive in the country on Sunday for the ASEAN Leader’s Summit.
A scuffle broke out when rallyists who tried to remove the plastic barriers were pushed back by the officers.
The rallyists described Trump as “the racist and fascist CEO of US imperialism and enemy of the oppressed peoples of the world.”
Bayan-Timog Katagalugan said in a statement his visit signified the growing intervention of US in the Philippines’ internal affairs.
It said it expects “nothing beneficial” from Trump’s visit to the country and he would just “reaffirm the grossly unequal relations between the US and the Philippines.”
The group also denounced Trump’s “promotion of racism and anti-immigrant policies” among his negative attitudes, which according to them, could be likened to some of President Duterte’s such as his “disrespect to women.”
Duterte was criticized for making a joke last year about a female Australian lay minister who was raped when he was still a mayor in Davao City.
A giant US flag with skulls, instead of stars was set on fire by the protesters to highlight the protest.
“The Filipino people desire genuine freedom from any foreign dictates and intervention. This is a requisite for the Philippines to be able to chart its own path to progress. It is only through the assertion of sovereignty that the Philippines will be able to stand on its own two feet. It is time to end all forms of foreign intervention and unequal relations. It is time to place national interest above any foreign dictate. The time has come to uphold Philippine sovereignty against imperialism,” the group said.