Friday, February 24, 2006 Police scuffle with anti-government demonstrators (12:10 p.m.)
MANILA -- Hundreds of anti-government protesters demanding the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo scuffled with riot police on Friday, soon after the president declared a state of emergency amid coup plot rumors.
The protesters threw sticks at police carrying clubs and shields, and security forces responded by charging forward and spraying the crowd with water from a high-pressure fire hose.
The government announced a ban on rallies without a permit, but the protesters made no move to disperse from their gathering point on a highway near a monument to the "people power" revolt that helped oust dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.(AP)
