Thousands at teen's burial call for end to Philippine drug war

Thousands of Filipinos called for an end to extrajudicial killings as the funeral of a boy killed by police turned into the largest single demonstration yet against President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal drug war.

Philippine's protest

Protesters denounce the killing by police of Kian Loyd Delos Santos as part of Duterte's 'war on drugs'. Source: AAP

The killing of 17-year-old Kian Delos Santos last week triggered rare protests against Duterte's controversial but popular campaign to eradicate drugs, with critics saying it highlighted rampant rights abuses by police enforcing the crackdown.

Since Duterte's term began 14 months ago, police have reported killing 3,500 people in anti-drug operations, with thousands more murdered over drug-related crimes and in unexplained circumstances.

Duterte and his drug war are backed by a large majority of Filipinos fed up with high crime and a slow-moving judicial system, according to national polls.

But Delos Santos's murder has dominated the media and sparked public outrage.
Police said the teenager was a drug courier who fired at them while resisting arrest. However CCTV footage emerged of two policemen dragging the unarmed boy away moments before he was killed.

After his family held a wake for him at home, around 3,000 people including his classmates, neighbours, nuns, priests and human rights activists marched under cloudy skies to protest his killing, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.

"Kian is the name and face of the truth. We must not allow the truth to die with Kian's murder," said Father Robert Reyes, one of several Catholic priests who celebrated a church mass for the boy on Saturday.

Duterte, who had controversially drawn parallels between his drug campaign to Hitler's extermination of Jews and vowed to protect police from prosecution, has promised to bring the boy's killers to justice.
Kian Loyd Delos Santos parents
Parents of the late Kian Delos Santos at a prosecutor's office to file murder charges against police officers who killed their son. Source: AAP
The slow-moving procession snaked through narrow streets as participants, many wearing black ribbons, carried posters that read "Stop Killing the Poor", "Justice for Kian", and "Rehabilitation not Persecution".

The cortege stopped briefly for prayers outside a police station where the three officers who had arrested the boy were deployed. They have since been suspended.

Following their claims of Delos Santos being involved in the drugs trade, police told a public enquiry on Thursday that they only read about his alleged narcotics activity on "social media" after his death.

A police autopsy also concluded the boy was fatally shot in the head twice as he lay on the ground.

Amnesty International alleged in a report released in February that Philippine police shot dead defenceless people, fabricated evidence, paid assassins to murder drug addicts, and stole from those they killed or the victims' relatives.

It also said police were being paid by their superiors to kill drug suspects, and documented victims as young as eight years old.

Share

3 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AFP, SBS


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world