This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com).
Vol. VI, No. 21, July 7, 2006
3 Missing, 34 Hurt in Mendiola Youth Rally
Dispersal
BY JHONG DELA CRUZ At least 34 youth
activists were hurt during a march-rally toward Mendiola when police
forcibly dispersed them. Six demonstrators remain unaccounted for as of
press time. About 900 youth belonging
to Youth-DARE or Youth Demanding Arroyo's Removal tried to reach Mendiola, the
bridge leading to the presidential palace and traditional venue of
anti-government demonstrations, to protest the government's renewed
anti-insurgency drive. At about 3 p.m., the
protesters composed of students from 16 colleges in Metro Manila and residents
of three urban poor communities led by the Kabataan Party, held a brief program
at Morayta Street near España Avenue. After the program, they marched near the
University of Manila where some 20 policemen attacked them, rally leaders said. Among those injured was
Juan Paolo Alfonso, student council chair of the University of the Philippines-Diliman
and Vencer Crisostomo, chair of the League of Filipino Students. They plan to file
formal complaints against the police. Earlier, the groups
reported 10 youth protestors could not immediately be found, including an
eight-year old from a community in Sta. Mesa, Manila. President Arroyo has come
under fire upon announcement of the P1 billion fund to beef up the government's
anti-insurgency drive. The fund, said militant youth groups, should have just
been used to buttress the education sector. "May pera sa gera, wala sa
iskwela" (There is money for war but not for education) was the main slogan
during the protest action. Meanwhile, the recent wave
of abductions by suspected military agents of activists include student victims:
University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño, 23, and Sherlyn Cadapan,
25, who were seized together with a local farmer by unidentified armed men in
Hagonoy, Bulacan on June 26. This week, the youth groups
declared the youth's "all-out war" against the Arroyo government, swearing to
conduct more protest forms in the light of intensifying human rights violations
in the country. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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Alipato Media Center Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Posted 6:50 p.m. July 7, 2006