As President Donald Trump met with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in Vietnam, some pretty violent protests were being held in his country.
Hundreds of left-wing activists from the country clashed with law enforcement, armed with riot shields, as they chanted ‘Ban Trump – Fight US Imperialist War and Plunder’.
The protest were essentially unfounded, however. They’re simply “worried” that Trump will want more military bases in their country and will inevitably involve them in the ever-growing North Korea conflict.
I guess it doesn’t matter where ya go in this world… you’re bound to run into them. Overall most of the protests remained peaceful but there were some rather violent skirmishes as police blocked their way to the US embassy.
There’s a lot of speculation that the two Presidents have many similarities — perhaps that is what they are most worried about. Duterte has even been VERY outspoken about former-President Obama saying some pretty nasty stuff that I simply cannot repeat here.
As reported by Daily Mail:
Trump will head to Manila on Sunday for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on the last leg of his 12-day Asian trip.
Duterte – sometimes described ‘Trump of the East’ because of his brash and mercurial style – had said on Wednesday that he would tell the US president to ‘lay off’ if he raised the issue of human rights when they met.
More than 3,900 Filipinos have been killed in what the police call self-defense in Duterte’s war on drugs. Critics say executions are taking place with zero accountability, allegations the police reject.
But Trump, who has been criticised at home for neglecting rights issues in dealings abroad, in May praised Duterte for doing an ‘unbelievable job on the drug problem’.
Human rights, rule of law and due process were among topics Trump and Duterte would likely discuss during their bilateral talks, Sung Kim, US ambassador to Manila, had said last month.