Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) said it was the people’s anger against corrupt officials that led to the violent confrontation between the police and mostly young people in Ayala Bridge and Mendiola from yesterday afternoon to most of Sunday night.
BAYAN, a co-organizer in the Bahain ang Luneta protest rally, said it had concluded its subsequent march to Mendiola when unaffiliated protesters surged to the front and confronted the police barricade at the bridge.
“Bayan members attempted to calm the situation but the surge of deep anger became uncontrollable,” the alliance said in a statement last night.
It added that the angry protesters saw the police as protectors of the rich and powerful.
Prior to the clashes in Mendiola and along Legarda and Recto Avenues late into the night, the same group of angry protesters were blocked at the foot of Ayala Bridge that sparked the first wave of clashes and arrests at around two o’clock in the afternoon.
BAYAN president Renato Reyes Jr. was hit by a rock in the face and was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.
The group said it has yet to determine the number of affiliates injured.
Despite efforts at an organized dispersal, 12 participants from BAYAN mass organizations have been reportedly arrested due to sweeping arrests made by the police in the ensuing clashes.
“So much public resources are spent on security yet the police could not respond to the situation in a restrained and organized fashion,” BAYAN’s statement reads.
“This anger should be met with understanding and a willingness to address the legitimate concerns of the poor,” BAYAN said, adding the Philippine National Police could have exercised more restraint.
Kodao sources reported that even innocent bystanders and passersby have been collared by the police, such as a San Beda University senior high school student who was taken to the Manila Police Department holding cell yesterday.
“[We are] demanding authorities to allow legal representation and medical care for the arrested protesters. The brutal behavior of the police will spark more condemnation and protests among our people,” it said.
Gov’t to file charges against arrested protesters
National and local government officials are one in condemning the angry protesters in yesterday’s clashes in Manila.
Interior secretary Jonvic Remulla, who was at Mendiola soon after the clashes started, condemned the “violent acts by a small group that threw rocks, molotov cocktails, and set a truck on fire, wounding about 40 police officers.”
Remulla was quoted to have said that the group wanted to break through the police barricades and through two steel gates to lay siege to Malacanang Palace that is hundreds of meters away from the site of the clashes.
The police used water cannons, tear gas, batons and shields against the protesters. Some gunfire were also heard coming the police as the clashes progressed.
Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso vowed to file charges against the angry protesters who he likened to “drug addicts.”
“Criminal and civil, we will charge them, the City Government of Manila will charge them, whatever the Philippine National Police will charge them,” he threatened.
The Manila Public Information Office said 72 people had been arrested, 51 of whom were apprehended at Ayala Bridge and 21 in Mendiola, including at least seven minors.
(Remulla said in a Palace briefing Tuesday morning that more than 200 protesters were arrested.)
BAYAN however called for the immediate release of activists arrested, blaming the police’s violent handling of the young protesters arrested in Mendiola.
“The people have had enough of the plunder of public funds and abuse of power by those in authority,” it said.
100k-strong Luneta rally
BAYAN said Luneta’s rally was attended by at least 100,000, starting at 6am and ending around 1pm.
Bikers, riders, joggers, and church people were among the early participants, reflecting the widespread outrage against corruption and the clamor for accountability and justice, the group said.
“We are inspired by the creative activism of the youth who led their delegations from various schools and communities. We marched with flood victims, the urban poor, farmers, workers, and ordinary Filipinos who are united in condemning the entrenched corruption in the bureaucracy,” BAYAN said
The progressive alliance thanked all those who volunteered and showed solidarity that made the protest “a huge success.”
“[T]he message is loud and clear in Luneta, Mendiola, Edsa, and across the country: The people have had enough of the plunder of public funds and abuse of power by those in authority,” BAYAN said.
“They are angry and demanding accountability. The protests will continue against the corrupt system. Authorities should neither resort to violence nor suppress the people’s dissent,”it said.
The Trillion Peso rally at the EDSA Shrine Sunday afternoon reportedly drew more than 50,000 protesters. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
