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Scuffles break out during anti-Arroyo demonstrations

Protesters run while others stand their ground during a scuffle with police officers as they try to march near the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila yesterday. Police blocked several thousand militant farmers and left-wing groups demanding Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's ouster from getting close to the presidential palace. PHOTO: AP

Anti-riot police yesterday blocked several thousand militant farmers and left-wing groups from getting too close to the presidential palace in their protest to demand that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo be removed from office.

The 17,000-strong police force in Manila have gone on full alert to deal with almost-daily protests, some of which have turned violent after authorities trained water cannons on activists last week.

Protesters accused Arroyo of vote rigging, corruption and repression, but the president on Thursday brushed aside the charges, saying, "A state that cowers in fear before the mob cannot stand for long."

Arroyo has angered protesters by imposing a strict "no permit, no rally" policy, saying the noisy demonstrations that snarl traffic in crowded commercial districts were becoming a nuisance.

Yesterday's rally was the largest in several weeks, gathering up to 10,000 mostly farmers and fishermen who traveled from provinces north and south of Manila.

They were stopped outside the historic Mendiola bridge, which has become a shrine for protesters, several hundred meters from the presidential palace gates.

A scuffle erupted when a group of protesters tried to push their way toward the presidential palace, only to be repulsed by a phalanx of riot police, Manila Radio DZBB reported. Several officers were reported injured after being hit by flying objects.

Arroyo said on Thursday she would not buckle amid the protests and would strengthen the government against those who attempt to destabilize it.

An armed plainclothes navy operative was mauled ahead of the rally near the garrison-like presidential palace.

The unidentified navy operative was mingling with protesters who had stayed overnight at Manila's suburban city of Quezon ahead of the street march.

Renato Reyes, leader of the leftist New Nationalist Alliance, condemned the infiltration by the military of the ranks of rallyists.

"This act of the government is condemnable," he said. "They are actually the ones who plan to sow violence in our peaceful march."

"The real agent provocateurs are the military intelligence operatives who are trying to pass themselves as protesters," he added. "It is clear that these government infiltrators are the ones who will sow trouble."

Police Director Vidal Querol, chief of Manila's police forces, earlier warned that communist rebels were out to infiltrate the ranks of the protesters to sow trouble to further destabilize the government.

Anti-government protesters have been holding almost daily street protests to demand Arroyo's removal over allegations she cheated in the May 2004 elections.

Arroyo's opponents have intensified protests after the House of Representatives, which is dominated by the president's allies, threw out impeachment charges against her on a technicality in late August.
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