Mendiola barricades up again; 500 protesters gather in Manila

A day after the Sandiganbayan meted out a guilty verdict against deposed President Joseph Estrada on plunder charges, security remains tight near the Don Chino Roces Bridge near Malacañang Palace as some 500 activitsts staged a protest action in Manila City. GMA News reported Thursday that barbed wire roadblocks were put back in place at about 9 a.m. while container vans were lined up on the street leading to the Palace complex. Television footage showed policemen laying their shields on the road as an additional barricade. Superintendent Teodorico Perez, Malacañang Palace ground commander, said the move came after the police received reports that a youth group was planning to troop the historic site today (Thursday). Demonstrators converged at España Avenue then marched to the Morayta area shortly before 2 p.m. They were reportedly members of militant groups Anakbayan, the League of Filipino Students and the National Union of Students of the Philippines. Radio dzMM said the marchers planned on pushing their ranks to the Don Chino Roces Bridge later in the day, but this could not be immediately confirmed as of posting time. Perez said the protesters were unable to secure a rally permit. As this developed, members of the Manila Police District secured both lanes in Mendiola from the incoming demonstrators even as Perez said the Malacañang perimeter was generally peaceful. GMA News added that the police forces were scattered along Lacson and J.P. Rizal streets. A lane in Morayta street has already been closed to traffic while the España street continues to experience a traffic snarl, a radio report said. At the start of his term in office this year, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim lifted with conditions the "no rally" ban on Mendiola. He initially pronounced that protesters were free to stage rallies on Don Chino Roces Bridge. However, he later said only half of the bridge would be available to protesters, adding that rallies there were permitted only on weekends. Incidentally, Lim said his office has not recently approved any application for a rally. Lim is known as a staunch political ally of Estrada. The Don Chino Roces Bridge, then called the Mendiola Bridge, used to be the site of many clashes between protesters and government forces, especially during the regime of strongman and late President Ferdinand Marcos. - GMANews.TV