Dump Trump, say Filipino protestors

Manila, Jan. 20: Hundreds of Filipinos converged on the US embassy Friday to denounce Donald Trump ahead of his inauguration as President of the United States, accusing him of sexism, racism and xenophobia.

Chanting “Dump Trump”, the protesters from leftist groups also expressed concerns that Trump was a threat to the millions of Filipino immigrants living in the United States.

“It is alarming to know that an accused sexual predator, a known racist, sexist, xenophobic man is assuming the presidency of the strongest capitalist country in the world,” Joms Salvador, secretarygeneral of women’s group Gabriela, said.

“The decades of struggle of women across the world to fight for their rights is threatened by Mr Trump's presidency,” she added.

The roughly 300 people who gathered near the US embassy in Manila held placards with the message “@realDonaldTrump hands off Filipino immigrants” and “Trump you’re trash”.

They symbolically dumped photos of Trump in the rubbish bin.

The Philippines, a former American colony, has strong cultural and economic ties with the United States. The two are bound by a mutual defence treaty and US forces have for many years helped the Philippines on various security issues.

However leftist groups have long railed against the United States for exporting its capitalist model and for what they see as continued American domination of the Philippines.

Protesters at Friday’s rally also burned an American flag as they reiterated their longtime demands for US troops to leave the Philippines and the tearing up of what they called “unequal” military agreements.