- Title: PHILIPPINES: INDIGNATION RALLY HELD TO PROTEST AGAINST RECENT ARRESTS.
- Date: 8th February 1985
- Summary: 1. GV & SVs Riot squads with helmets and shields block demonstration, demonstrators stand in groups (4 shots) 0.22 2. GVs Riot police with fire trucks block road (2 shots) 0.30 3. GVs & SVs Police hold back demonstrators who stand holding banners (4 shots) 0.56 4. SVs Police commander Northern District, General Alfredo Lim (in red T-shirt) standing while officer talks
- Embargoed: 23rd February 1985 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES
- Country: Philippines
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA43G3219GJJEZ30RNIHHJ6V0Z4
- Story Text: QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES
Some 50,000 protestors marched through Quezon City on February 7 in an "indignation rally" against mass arrests the previous week during a national transport strike. The rally was headed by Cory Aquino, widow of assassinated opposition leader Benigno Aquino, her brother-in-law Butz Aquino, and former senators Lorenzo Tanada and Jose Diokno. Marches were at first blocked by cordons of riot police and it was only patient dialogue between police commander General Alfredo Lim and protest spokesman Reli German which defused the situation and allowed the rally to go ahead. The demonstrators' numbers were swollen by farmers from Central Luzon who had been camping in a "tent city" in front of the Ministry of Agriculture to press their demand for a 30 per cent reduction in fertiliser prices. The farmers pledged to remain in their makeshift camp until they had something "tangible" to take home, and tension was reported to be growing in the wake of rumours that the group would be violently dispersed by Northern Police District officers, who are under the command of General Lim. The recent national transport strike was called off because of what organisers called "repression and threats from the government". At least 22 people were injured as police used batons to disperse strikers, and organisers said the authorities had threatened to cancel operators' permits.
<strong>Source: REUTERS - MANUEL SILVA</strong> - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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