PNP van rams protesters in front of US Embassy
MANILA — A Philippine National Police van rammed into protesters, leaving several bloodied, as an anti-US rally turned violent yesterday at the American Embassy in Manila.
At least three student activists had to be taken to a hospital after they were ran over by the van driven by a police officer, protest leader Renato Reyes said.
Associated Press TV footage showed the van repeatedly ramming the protesters as it drove wildly back and forth after activists surrounded and started hitting the vehicle with wooden batons they seized from police.
In front of horrified crowds, including video journalists and photographers, the van suddenly charged backward then sprinted forward twice over a space of about 20 meters (60 feet), barreling through the scattered protesters and hurtling some to the side like bowling pins. A few got ran over but somehow managed to stand.
Some screamed in surprise, others hurled stones at the van and yelled invectives. A speaker called the police "puppies of imperialists" on a loudspeaker.
"There was absolutely no justification for it," Reyes said of the violent police dispersal of about 1,000 protesters. "Even as the president vowed an independent foreign policy, Philippine police forces still act as running dogs of the US."
Police lobbed tear gas and arrested at least 23 protesters who broke through a line of riot police and hurled red paint at the officers and a US government seal at the start of the rally at the seaside embassy compound.
A firetruck doused the rowdy protesters with water to push them back, but they took hold of the water hose and confronted the outnumbered police with rocks and red paint. After breaking through the police corridor, they scribbled "US troops out now" and other slogans at the embassy's tall fence with red paint.
The protesters, consisting of students, workers and tribespeople, were demanding an end to the presence of visiting US troops in the Philippines and to support a call by President Rodrigo Duterte for a foreign policy not dependent on the US, the country's longtime treaty ally.