Around 300 demonstrators protested in Manila on Tuesday (November 17), a day before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting.
The protesters, who were blocked by riot police around 200 metres (656 feet) from the main gate of the U.S. embassy in Manila, chanted anti-imperialist slogans and waved banners decrying U.S. President Barack Obama’s participation in the summit.
The demonstrators denounced what they called an interventionist foreign policy by the U.S..
“Today, Obama will arrive in the Philippines, and this is our welcome for him — a protest that rejects his presence because we do not want the leader of the United States, the chief architect of aggression and cruelty towards many nations around the world, to land in the Philippines,” said Diego Torres, a spokesperson of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Patriotic Alliance) activist group.
Human rights and pro-labour groups have been protesting against the APEC summit, saying it is a vehicle for corporations and rich nations to protect their interests at the expense of smaller economies.
APEC, which accounts for 60 percent of global output and nearly half of world trade, is aiming for a larger free-trade area for its 21 economies by 2025, but a re-emergence in some states of protectionism as growth stutters could be a hindrance. (Reuters)
