A video posted in YouTube showed a police vehicle were running back and forth hitting protesters in an anti-US rally outside the US embassy in Manila, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016.
Local media reported that a newly-formed alliance of national minorities said that more than 50 people were hurt, including three seriously injured after being hit by a patrol car, as the police dispersing the protest outside the US embassy in Manila.
“Immediately, the police released tear gas and rammed their mobile patrol vehicle through the ranks of the protesters. Police armed with truncheons also chased after the protesters from Roxas Boulevard to Kalaw Street,” the alliance said in a statement, Inquirer reports.
Police said they will investigate and expressed their regret over the injuries, since they denied running over protesters.
Secretary General of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Renato Reyes Jr. said there were 29 protesters including indigenous people, doctor, nurse and health volunteer and one called Wences Balanquit of alternative media outfit Southern Tagalog Exposure had been arrested and taken to Manila Police District headquarters, local media reports.
SANDUGO minority said the protesters were about to end their program in front of the US embassy, voicing their calls for American troops to leave the country and support for President Rodrigo Duterte’s plans in pursuing independent foreign policy, when MPD Superintendent Marcelino Pedroso ordered the dispersal.
Among the injured was Kabataan Partylist Rep. Sarah Elago.
“We express our utmost condemnation of what we can consider as a brutal police attack against the people. The national minorities, under the banner of SANDUGO, a newly-established alliance of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for self-determination, were rallying at the US Embassy to underline their plight caused by US domination in the military, political, and economic affairs of our country,” said a statement from Kabataan.
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