It’s kind of nice to see the other side getting stoned once in a while (LOL)
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Sun Star
July 30, 2002
Five injured in stoning of anti-US protesters in Zamboanga City (9:08 am)
ZAMBOANGA -- At least five people were injured on Monday when local residents in the southern city of Zamboanga stoned a convoy of leftist protesters who traveled here to oppose the deployment of US forces in the southern Philippines.
Local radio reports said five members of the protest-convoy, organized by the leftist group, Bayan (New Nationalist Alliance), were rushed to the hospital when stones were hurled at their buses and mini-buses.
Ted Casino, spokesman of Bayan, said he was told that several of the protesters were taken away for treatment but he could not give details.
He said several of more than a dozen vehicles taking part in the convoy suffered numerous shattered windows and windshields due to the hurled stones.
Bayan organized the convoy to protest the deployment of some 1,000 US troops in the south to help local soldiers in the fight against the Abu Sayyaf, a notorious Muslim kidnapping group that has been linked by both governments to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.
However, majority of residents in Zamboanga City strongly support the Americans who they see as helping rout the Abu Sayyaf group who are widely despised in Zamboanga for their kidnappings and bombings.
Two legislators linked to Bayan have recently charged that an American soldier wounded a suspected Abu Sayyaf member on the nearby island of Basilan, which would be in violation of the ban on American troops firing their guns only in self-defense.
But both the Philippine and US Governments have denied this.
Bayan plans to stage a protest rally in front of the Philippine military base hosting most of the US troops. But police say they do not have a permit for such a demonstration and there is concern such an action could spark violence among pro-American residents. (AFP)
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