AFP meets Martsa Amianan with water cannons
Participants of the Martsa Amianan (March of the North) were hit by water cannons as they held a protest action in front of Camp Aguinaldo this morning.
Here in Manila to participate in the People’s Caravan against Imperialist Globalization (PCAIG), indigenous peoples (IPs) from Northern Luzon were welcomed by participants of Manilakbayan 2015 of indigenous tribes from Mindanao in Mendiola before dawn today.
PCAIG is a series of protest actions against the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit hosted by the Manila government.
Like their Mindanao counterparts, the northern tribes are protesting foreign and large-scale mining, logging and plantation operations in their ancestral lands that bring with them various human rights violations such as extra-judicial killings, harassments and the filing of “trumped-up” charges against their leaders and members.
The IPs both blamed the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, both headquartered at Camp Aguinaldo, for the spate of killings and harassments against them.
The protesters tried to enter the camp premises but were battered by water cannons by soldiers on the ramparts above the steel gates.
Both Martsa Amianan and Manilakbayan delegates are expected to join the massive protest actions as the APEC summit closes tomorrow. #