Police roadblock anti-APEC convoy

Police roadblock anti-APEC convoy

MANILA (Agencies): Heavily armed Philippine police set up
frequent road blocks yesterday to delay convoys of leftist
protesters heading to Subic Bay, site of an Asia-Pacific trade
summit.

The protesters, most riding in the Philippines' colorful
"jeepney" minibuses, were subjected to repeated searches by slow-
moving but scrupulously polite policemen.

Tempers rose in the steady drizzle but although heated words
were exchanged, there was no violence.

Police said they had been told to use "maximum tolerance" in
dealing with protesters but were determined to stop them reaching
the summit venue.

Security officials are determined to prevent any embarrassment
to the government while it plays host to the fourth annual
meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum
today.

Most of the thousands of protesters taking part rode in shiny
jeepneys, the most common form of public transport here and built
locally to a design based on that of the World War II Jeep.

One convoy, organized by the Peoples Conference on Imperialist
Globalization, was delayed for more than an hour before police
finally allowed it onto the main highway leading from Manila to
the former U.S. naval base at Subic some 80 kilometers to the
north.

Nuns, a not uncommon sight at leftist gatherings in this
overwhelmingly Roman Catholic nation, prayed quietly.

"We have the right to pass through," Romeo Capulong, a noted
leftist lawyer, told the police blocking the way. "Our
constitution guarantees freedom of assembly and movement."

The Peoples Conference protest was one of three separate
leftist convoys aiming to travel to Subic where U.S. President
Bill Clinton and other Asia-Pacific leaders will meet.

Convoy

Both the Peoples Conference and a second "Slam APEC" convoy
had more than 200 vehicles taking part. The third group of more
than 100 vehicles, organized by the moderate Manila People's
Forum, was not blocked by police.

"We are anti-APEC because we believe APEC is no good for poor
people. It can't do any good for us," said 24-year-old factory
worker Eddie Mission, taking part in one of the marches.

Opponents say developing countries are not ready for the
rigors of free trade that APEC advocates and fear rising
unemployment as a result of liberalization.

Outside the Freedom Gate on the outskirts of Subic Bay, a
group of 20 residents of nearby Olongapo City, armed with
placards and truncheons, stood guard and vowed to stop protesters
entering the free port.

Chief presidential aide Ruben Torres said the protest groups
would be allowed to proceed up to the town of Dinalupihan,
adjacent to Olongapo City at the gates of Subic Bay, where the
demonstrators planned to spend the night.

"I'll be there (Dinalupihan) to receive them. We don't want
for them to clash" with pro-APEC residents of Olongapo who vowed
to block anti-APEC protesters, he said.

Torres added that only the luaders of the protest groups would
be allowed into Subic, and he would receive their petition at the
gate of the former U.S. naval base.

Defense Secretary Renato de Villa said: "Let's just hope that
nobody loses his cool, and nobody creates any trouble along the
way."

Retired military chief Lisandro Abadia, head of the APEC
national organizing committee, said that police, "aside from
ensuring the smooth flow of movements they (the police) have to
ensure there are no infiltrators" among protesters.