Philippines president declares emergency amid coup fears
AP
Independent, UK
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Manila (Philippines):
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared a state of emergency in the Philippines today as she struggled with a reported coup plot and a possible repeat of the popular revolts that ousted two of her predecessors.
Clashes erupted as police used water cannons to disperse about 5,000 protesters defying a ban on rallying at a shrine to the 1986 "people power" uprising that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The military barricaded its camps to keep troops from joining the demonstrations and detained an army general allegedly involved in the takeover plot.
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Fom Philippines Media:
Cup conspirators freed
Coup may still happen, but will fail
Esperon confirms coup plot attempt
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Arroyo, who survived two earlier coup attempts, said the political opposition, along with both the extreme left and the extreme right, was determined to bring down the elected government. She claimed the military had quashed a coup plot by some military officers and their men. She stopped short of declaring martial law, a sensitive issue in a country where Marcos used it to rule by decree.
The opposition railed against the declaration, saying it showed the government's desperation. Military chiefs said they backed Arroyo. They arrested an army general, who leads an elite special forces unit, for alleged involvement in a coup plot and ensured that a marine colonel was in his barracks.
feb 24, 2006
AP
Independent, UK
____________
Manila (Philippines):
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared a state of emergency in the Philippines today as she struggled with a reported coup plot and a possible repeat of the popular revolts that ousted two of her predecessors.
Clashes erupted as police used water cannons to disperse about 5,000 protesters defying a ban on rallying at a shrine to the 1986 "people power" uprising that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The military barricaded its camps to keep troops from joining the demonstrations and detained an army general allegedly involved in the takeover plot.
__________________
Fom Philippines Media:
Cup conspirators freed
Coup may still happen, but will fail
Esperon confirms coup plot attempt
__________________
Arroyo, who survived two earlier coup attempts, said the political opposition, along with both the extreme left and the extreme right, was determined to bring down the elected government. She claimed the military had quashed a coup plot by some military officers and their men. She stopped short of declaring martial law, a sensitive issue in a country where Marcos used it to rule by decree.
The opposition railed against the declaration, saying it showed the government's desperation. Military chiefs said they backed Arroyo. They arrested an army general, who leads an elite special forces unit, for alleged involvement in a coup plot and ensured that a marine colonel was in his barracks.
feb 24, 2006
