Rights group wants death of bystander in Sept. 21 riot probed
Human rights group Karapatan is demanding accountability from the police for the death of a 35-year-old construction worker believed to have been caught in the crossfire between authorities and rioting protesters after the Sept. 21 anti-corruption protest in Manila.
A funeral march was held on Thursday for Eric Saber, who was found to have sustained a gunshot wound in the neck, based on an autopsy conducted by forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun.
Based on Fortun’s findings, Saber was shot, injuring his spine. He developed pneumonia, which ultimately killed him.
“This fact exposes the lies of the Philippine National Police (PNP), which repeatedly denied that they did not use firearms or tear gas that day. Who else bore firearms during the dispersal but the police forces, the SWAT (special weapons and tactics) team and agents who are not in uniform?” said lawyer Maria Sol Taule, Karapatan deputy secretary general, who has also been helping protesters who were arrested without a warrant.
Taule said the untimely death of Saber, who was just passing by Mendiola when he was shot, is a reminder that ordinary people are “not safe from state violence and police brutality.”
Stark reminder
“We demand accountability for those responsible for the killing of Eric Saber. We call for an immediate, independent and credible investigation into his case and into the many other rights violations committed by the police during the Sept. 21 dispersal,” she added.
The number of protesters who were arrested and detained by the Manila police has reached 277 from the initial count of 216, based on the monitoring of Karapatan, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, Public Interest Law Center and Sentro para sa Repormang Agraryo.
The Manila Police District said on Monday that all minors who were arrested have been released. According to the Commission on Human Rights, 91 minors were processed by the PNP and the Department of Social Welfare and Development before they were released to their parents or sent to their respective local government units or a youth facility.
