Filipinos angry at ‘police murder’ of boy, 17

A TEENAGE boy seen being dragged to a violent death in an alley has galvanised the Philippines against a brutal state-led war on drugs that has seen more than 12,500 deaths in a year.

Graphic reports of the final moments of Kian Delos Santos, 17, allegedly shot three times by undercover police last week, has spurred the public, politicians and the Catholic Church into protests against the crackdown on drugs by Rodrigo Duterte, the president.

Three officers suspected of the murder are in custody while the case is investigated. Mr Duterte has said if they were guilty, they would “rot in jail”. The police initially claimed the boy had fired first. But their story was contradicted by witnesses and CCTV that showed him being dragged down an alley where he was told to run with a gun in his hand and then shot when he did.

His father, Saldy, told local media: “They killed an innocent child. And to think he wanted to be a policeman.”