Leader, blaming ‘agitators warns of harsh response

Press, 23 September 1983, Page 6

Leader, blaming ‘agitators warns of harsh response

NZPA Manila The Philippines President, Mr Ferdinand Marcos, yesterday threatened to reimpose martial law in the wake of Wednesday’s clash between demonstrators and security forces near the Presidential Palace which left 10 people dead. Speaking on Governmentrun television, Mr Marcos also said that “hard core radicals” probably including Communist insurgents — had exploited Wednesday’s peaceful protests and were responsible for the deaths.

He warned the Opposition not to “force my hand,” and he reversed the policy of “maximum tolerance” by security agents regarding protests, allowing the police and soldiers to carry firearms in public. Wednesday was the eleventh anniversary of the imposition of martial law, by which Mr Marcos ruled for more than eight years before lifting in January, 1981.

The riots on Wednesday followed a huge anti-Gov-ernmept demonstration held a month after the assassination of Benigno Aquino, a highly popular Opposition leader, whose killing had caused widespread anger. Mr Marcos prohibited civilians from carrying firearms outside their homes as he ordered an all-out search for what he called the people behind Wednesday’s violence.

“I hold the Opposition leaders responsible,” he said in his first public reaction to the most violent demonstration in Manila in more than a decade.

Police and political opposition leaders also yesterday blamed “professional agitators” for violent clashes be-

tween thousands of demonstrators and security forces near Mr Marcos’s home.

Officers from the police homicide section said that 10 people had been killed when demonstrators tried to force their way to the Presidential Palace on Wednesday night. But Government officials would confirm only three deaths.

The deputy commander of the Presidential security force, a brigadier-general, was among several dozen injured. Hospitals said that 77 had been hurt and a Church-run radio station said that 96 had been treated for injuries. Security forces chiefs met at the Presidental Palace yesterday for a conference, out spokesmen would not give details. A police spokesman said that agitators had been responsible for the street battles, while Agapito Aquino, younger brother of Mr Aquino, told Reuters that professional agitators had been undoubtedly active. “The question is where they came from and who they were,” he said. “We in

the Opposition are trying to clarify this.” A police officer at the scene said: “They knew what they were doing. They planned their attacks and knew how’ to use the situation.”

Witnesses to the fighting which erupted near the palace after peaceful opposition rallies demanding Mr Marcos’s resignation, said that they had seen and heard shooting.

Youths set fire to buses used to barricade a flyover leading to the Palace. They also pushed a burning crane towards police lines. The battle raged back and forth for several hours. Policemen sheltering behind riot shields were pelted with petrol-bombs, home-made grenades, and stones. They retaliated with tear-gas, water-cannon, and truncheons to try to disperse the crowds.

Fires were lit in the streets of Manila’s business district of Makati and in the capital’s university belt. Groups of demonstrators roamed the streets of the city until well after midnight yesterday.

Onlookers said that several hundred police, Air Force troops, Marines, Special Forces, and palace guards had sealed off the Palace on Wednesday afternoon when about 7000 protesters marched towards it from peaceful rallies in central Manila. “The Government has to face up to the fact that though we don’t like each other, we’re allies because we’re both against violence. But last night’s episode was a crack in the wall. If it gets out of hand we (the Opposition) will lose our usefulness,” Mr Aquino said.-