Thousands of people protested on Saturdayagainst Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly war on drugs after the arrest of his most high-profile critic. <\/p>\n
Duterte's political opponents and left-wing activists transformed a traditional celebration of a \"People Power\" uprising against dictatorship three decades ago in Manila into a protest march condemning his war on drugs. <\/p>\n
The group warned thatDuterte's authoritarian rule could return the country to a dictatorship, demanding an end to the extrajudicial killings thathave claimed more than 7,700 lives in the past seven months. <\/p>\n
The military-backed dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos was toppled in a bloodless \"People Power\" revolution 31 years ago to the day. <\/p>\n
\"We are taking the matter seriously. We are warning our people about the threat of rising fascism,\" Bonifacio Ilagan, who led one of the protests, told news agency AFP. <\/p>\n
Protesters warned of a return to conditions under the dictator Ferdinand Marcos <\/p>\n
Senator imprisoned <\/p>\n
The protesters gathered outside the national police headquarters, where opposition figure Senator Leila de Lima was detained two days ago on charges that she took bribes from imprisoned drug traffickers. <\/p>\n
\"There is a president who is threatening to reimpose martial law and openly support the killings of thousands of people,\" de Lima said in a message from her detention cell a day after she was arrested. <\/p>\n
\"The grim truth: In the last seven months under Duterte, there were more deaths compared to the 14 years of martial law under the Marcos regime.\" <\/p>\n
The former human rights commissioner said her arrest was an effort to silence her and an act of revenge for her decade-long efforts to expose Duterte as the leader of death squads during his time as mayor of the southern city of Davao. <\/p>\n
\"President Duterte is effectively expanding his drug war from the urban poor to the legislative branch of government,\" Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. <\/p>\n
Protester Ilagan, a playwright who suffered horrific torture over two years in a police prison under Marcos' martial rule in the 1970s, cited to AFP the \"culture of impunity\" engendered by Duterte's anti-drug crackdown. More rallies in support of de Lima were organized for later in the evening. <\/p>\n
aw\/tj (AFP, Reuters) <\/p>\n
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Philippine citizens protest Duterte's drug war on anniversary of dictatorship overthrow - Deutsche Welle<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thousands of people protested on Saturdayagainst Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly war on drugs after the arrest of his most high-profile critic. Duterte's political opponents and left-wing activists transformed a traditional celebration of a \"People Power\" uprising against dictatorship three decades ago in Manila into a protest march condemning his war on drugs. The group warned thatDuterte's authoritarian rule could return the country to a dictatorship, demanding an end to the extrajudicial killings thathave claimed more than 7,700 lives in the past seven months Continue reading