Blare of Christmas carols drowns out protests at MPD

The Manila Police District (MPD) employed a different tactic in containing rallyists at its own United Nations Avenue headquarters yesterday, playing Christmas songs to drown out their protests to the consternation of at least five militant groups.

A medley of popular Christmas carols, like Feliz Navidad, First Noel, Blue Christmas and White Christmas, blared through the public address system of the MPD headquarters that took much of the sting – and injected some Christmas spirit – into the protest rally staged by Akbayan, League of Filipino Students (LFS), Gabriela, and Piston.

The militant groups charged to the MPD headquarters twice, once in the morning and again in the afternoon, to protest the arrest of six of their members during a rally in front of the United States Embassy early yesterday.

But each time that they gathered steam to mount a raging rally, the Christmas songs were played.

The rallyists, instead, vented their ire on the façade of the MPD headquarters, vandalizing the Honor Roll of Manila policemen who died in the line-of-duty. The militants trooped to the MPD headquarters to protest the arrest of National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) member Teddy James Angeles, 19; LFS member Aries Gupit, 24; and Akbayan members Gerardo Gaddi, 21; Orion Yoshida, 21; Gem Cataag, 21; and Karl Anareta, 18.

The six militants were arrested around 5:45 a.m. yesterday for smearing red paint on the US seal emblazoned on the façade of the embassy during their rally against the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) on Roxas Boulevard. They were also arrested for engaging in a clash with the police which also resulted in the injuries of three anti-riot policemen and damage of a police mobile car.