More than 200 arrested after anticorruption protests in Philippines

At a protest against corruption in the Philippine capital, Manila, police and masked protesters clashed with more than 200 people.

The regional police said in a statement on Monday that the gathering in Ayala Bridge and Mendiola “turned very violent” despite the day’s earlier peaceful rallies.

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“Protesters turned mobs used anything they could get at police officers,” they said. Violence-affected protesters set motorcycles on fire, vandalized, and ransacked a business establishment because they were unhappy with the police officers’ uniformed actions, according to the statement.

Additionally, 224 suspects were detained by police, some of whom were minors.

At least 131 officers were hurt in the clashes, some of whom were “very serious,” but are now receiving medical attention.

According to Al Jazeera’s reporter from Manila, “there is a heavier police presence than usual… … more normalcy returned to the streets of Manila on Monday morning.”

As investigations into alleged corruption in flood control projects continue, more protests are anticipated, and they may be unpredictable, according to Lo. Schools are closed, and a curfew has been placed on minors.

Thousands of people showed up at rallies in Manila on Sunday to protest a corruption scandal involving phony flood control projects, which have cost the government billions of dollars.

More than 33, 000 people gathered in a historic park and a democracy monument in Manila, but some chose a different route.

The perpetrators allegedly used tear gas to disperse those who strewn across a high-profile road, toppled steel posts, shattered glass panels, and burned the lobby of a budget inn.

No one who has been detained has so far disclosed their reasoning or if “someone paid them to do it,” according to regional police spokesperson Major Hazel Asilo, according to the AFP news agency.

As soon as we learn about their affiliations, Asilo continued, “We can find out if they were just causing trouble or whether or not they were protesters.”

In recent weeks, protests erupted in other Asian nations, including Indonesia and Nepal, due to corrupt government practices.

After President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. exposed the ghostly infrastructure projects during a state-of-the-nation address in July, the country’s anger had been growing among Filipinos.

Althea Trinidad, a student activist, told The Associated Press that “I feel bad that we wallow in poverty and we lose our homes, our lives, and our future while they rake in a sizable sum of money from our taxes that pay for their expensive cars, trips abroad, and larger corporate transactions.”