Police Battle Pro-Marcos Demonstrators in Manila

Police in riot gear used clubs, tear gas and water cannon today to disperse about 5,000 supporters of ousted President Ferdinand E. Marcos who were demonstrating after a May Day rally led by President Corazon Aquino.

More than 60 people were arrested. At least 33 people were reported injured, two of them suffering gunshot wounds, in the clashes and in earlier street battles between Marcos and Aquino supporters.

Police charged into the crowd of Marcos supporters in front of the U.S. Embassy several times over a period of several hours. The loyalists fled and regrouped, and the confrontation started anew.

Aquino addressed about 38,000 supporters at the May Day rally at Rizal Park in Manila before being taken away by helicopter.

About 2,800 police were deployed throughout the park and kept Marcos supporters away from pro-government demonstrators during the rally.

Marcos, speaking from exile in Hawaii, told his supporters to withdraw and appealed to military leaders to give them time to do that.

“Let us keep this peaceful,” Marcos said in a message broadcast by radio station DZME. “Let yourselves be heard, but do not start the bloodshed.”