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Security tight at UST for Clinton's visit, youth stage pickets

November 13, 2009 8:59am
Militant youths held an early morning picket at a Manila university, challenging visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to listen to what they called the real sentiments of Filipinos.

But anti-riot police kept the protesters out of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) campus, though they allowed the picketers to hold their “vigil" outside Gate 3 of the UST campus.

Sagutin kami rito sa labas, di ang tao sa loob scripted ang sasabihin. Harapin kami (She should face us outside, not the people inside the campus who have already been coached on what to say and do)," Anakbayan vice chairman Anton Dulce said at the rally.

Dulce laughed off the warm welcome Clinton got Thursday at a Marikina City high school, saying the entire visit was “scripted."

Members of the League of Filipino Students and College Editors Guild of the Philippines also joined the picket, which snarled traffic along España Avenue in Sampaloc.

The picketers burned US flags and brought placards bearing anti-US slogans.

A separate report by dzBB’s Carlo Mateo said security was tight at the UST campus, with presidential guards and US Secret Service agents continuously inspecting the premises. - GMANews.TV