Alwaght- Irate protesters in the Philippines burned a giant swastika-shaped effigy of US President Donald Trump who was in the country's capital Manila for an Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference.
Protest organizers said the effigy was designed to symbolize fascism, war and plunder.
It had four spinning arms, holding a bag of money, a warhead, a pistol and a shovel.
The demonstrators shouted anti-US slogans demanding US forces leave the Philippines and calling on Washington to “stop imposing imperialist economic policies on the country”.
Violence flared when the protestors, who also torched US flags, tried to push their way past about 500 officers to march towards the venue of the leaders’ summit.
A left-wing Filipino movement known as Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) organized protests against the American president, whom they describe as “a warmonger, racist and fascist who also supports repressive regimes” on each of the three days of the summit.
“Trump today is the biggest threat to peace,” Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr. said in a statement on the group’s Facebook page. “He wants to further open up economies of developing countries. He uses US military aid to prop up fascist regimes that violate human rights, in exchange for acceptance of US dictates,” he added.
The United States and the Philippines, a former US colony, have been strategic allies since World War Two but their relations have been strained by anti-US outbursts from the country's President Rodrigo Duterte and his enthusiasm for better ties with Russia and China.
