Duterte wants to question police, protesters in US embassy dispersal

Pia Ranada

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Duterte wants to question police, protesters in US embassy dispersal

Toto Lozano

'I intend to look at it. I will try to talk to the police, invite him for coffee, and I will talk to the activists,' says President Duterte

BEIJING, China – President Rodrigo Duterte hopes to speak personally with both the police and protesters involved in the violent dispersal in front of the United States Embassy last October 19.

“I intend to look at it. I will try to talk to the police, invite him for coffee, and I will talk to the activists para naman hindi sila (so they are not) – I would like to know what really happened,” said Duterte on Saturday, October 22, during a press conference in Davao City.

He had just arrived from his state visit to China.

While he maintained that he is not pointing fingers on anyone yet, he said he has already received a report from the police about the incident. 

Police tried to disperse a rally of indigenous peoples protesting alleged military and US presence in their ancestral lands.  Some of the protesters were injured, however, after cops drove a police vehicle through the crowd. Around 30 activists were also arrested in the violent dispersal, organizers said.

Borne out of fear

The police personnel involved supposedly said their actions were borne out of fear.

“The police said natakot kasi na-corner sila (The police said they got scared because they were cornered). There were just two of them in the crowd, they were surrounded by the group of militants,” related Duterte.

But the President emphasized, “I’m not justifying it. Just a maybe, he was under stress. They might gang up on him, hurt him, so he acted on an instinct of self-preservation.”

Duterte intends to question the police and activists. 

“I will do the questioning myself. I do not want a quarrel,” he said. 

He insisted that he does not want to see future violence between police and protesters.

Batuhin mo ‘yung pulis (Throw something at the police), pulis naman (while the police) come swaggering and beating people. I do not like these things to happen in my administration,” said Duterte.

Lawmakers, meanwhile, have either condemned the dispersal, or have also called for an impartial investigation into the events. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!
Sleeve, Clothing, Apparel

author

Pia Ranada

Pia Ranada is Rappler’s Community Lead, in charge of linking our journalism with communities for impact.