Fourteen killed in Philippines strike

Submitted by Anon on 6 December, 2004 - 9:31

Fourteen people, including two children, were killed in the Philippines on November 16 when the army dispersed a strike at the Hacienda Luisita Sugar Mill.

At least 35 people were reported to have sustained gunshot wounds, 133 were arrested and hundreds were wounded. One of the victims was allegedly strangled after being shot and his dead body hanged by the factory gate. The two children, aged two and five years old who died from suffocation from teargas lobbed by the police and armed forces.

The trade unions in the Philippines are calling for a strong international protest, demanding a full investigation of what happened, the rehiring of illegally dismissed workers, and withdrawal of criminal charges brought against the strikers.

The owners are of Hacienda Luisita are brothers and sisters of Corazon Aquino, the Philippines’ democratically elected president in 1986 and leader of the movement that ousted the dictator Marcos.

Send protests via the Labour Start website

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