The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
I’mhappy to slaughter criminals, says Duterte
President compares bloody crackdown to Holocaust
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has compared his bloody crime crackdown to Hitler and the Holocaust, saying he would be “happy to slaughter” three million drug addicts.
MrDuterte issued his latest threat against drug dealers and users as he returned to his home town in southern Davao city after visiting Vietnam, where he discussed his anti- drug campaign with Vietnamese leaders and ways for their governments to fight transnational crimes.
Mr Duterte has said his public death threats against drug suspects are designed to scaretheminto stopping selling drugs and to discourage would- be users.
But his latest remarks took his tough crimebusting approach to a different level as he said he had been “portrayed or pictured to be a cous in o f Hitler”, without elaborating.
M om e n t s later, he sa id : “Hi t l e r m a s s ac r e d three million Jews ... there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.” Hewasreferr ing to a Philippine government estimate of the number of drug addicts in the country. Historians say six million Jews were killed by the Nazis under Hitler before and duringWorldWar II. During the presidential election campaign earlier this year and during the three months he has held office, the tough-talkingMr Duterte has threatened to drown drug suspects to fatten the fish in Manila Bay.
He also threatened to execute drug traffickers by hanging – because he did not want to waste electricity on them – until their heads were severed.
Mr Duterte said his targets are “all criminals” and that getting rid of them would “finish the (drug) problem ofmy country and save the next generation from perdition”.
Germany’s government said Mr Duterte’s comments were unacceptable.
“It is impossible to make any comparison to the unique atrocities of the Shoah and Holocaust,” foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said in Berlin.
Mr Duterte’s supporters and many Filipinos exasperated with widespread crime have welcomed his tough approach, but a growing number of critics, including UN officials, the European Union and the United States, have voiced concerns over the widespread killings and human rights violations.