Wednesday, June 28, 2006
30 rallyists hurt in police dispersal in Mendiola
MANILA -- About 30 protestors were injured in a clash with anti-riot policemen of the Manila Police District (MPD) when they tried to breach the security line at the Chino Roces Bridge (formerly Mendiola) in Manila last Tuesday.
Some 500 demonstrators belonging to the militant groups Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Pamalakaya, Karapatan, Sanlakas, and Bayan Muna came to blows with members of the MNP-Civil Disturbance Management Unit who prevented them from marching towards Malacañang at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday
The policemen were forced to use water canons, nightsticks, and truncheons to drive away the protestors. The clash lasted 10 minutes.
Bernardo Diaz, chief of the MPD-Station 11, said the protestors converged at the Mabuhay Rotunda at the boundary of Quezon and Manila cities at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
The rallyists then marched along Espana Street until they managed to reach P. Noval Street and tried to enter Mendiola there but the policemen barred them on Legarda Street where they were forced to hold a protest action against the Arroyo administration.
Among the issues that they raised were the P1 billion in insurgency fund ordered released by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Charter change, graft and corruption in government, and the spate of killings among their ranks.
When the rallyists refused to voluntarily disperse, the policemen were forced to hose them down. Police said no one was hurt during the dispersal but television footages showed otherwise. (ECV/Sunnex)
(June 28, 2006 issue)
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