World Video: Hillary Clinton’s Convoy Gets Paint-Bombed in the Philippines
A convoy carrying U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was met with protesters while traveling through the Philippines Wednesday. Video of the clash near the Philippine presidential palace shows that reported anti-U.S. protesters threw red paint at cars in the convoy:
The BBC reports that the 50 to 60 protesters were expressing discontent towards legislation that allows U.S. troops in the Philippines to “avoid legal censure for any acts they might commit.” The BBC reports that the issue has been a “running sore” in the Philippines.
A photographer at the scene
told AFP that the main group of cars turned around and took another route as Filipino riot police “swung their batons at the chasing protesters, who retreated.”
Dianne Marie Solmayor, spokeswoman of the Manila branch of the leftist youth group Anakbayan, told AFP that her group was responsible for the incident.
During a public forum with Clinton and Filipino officials shortly after the paint-bomb, an outburst was reportedly made by a demonstrator who carried a banner and shouted, “Dop VFA!” referring to the Visiting Forces Agreement. AFP writes that Clinton brushed off the protest and said that it was a sign that “people are unafraid to express themselves” in the Philippines.
