Some protesters did not take the tactic well. 'We just want to make our voices heard,' says one
ANTI-APEC. Police blast Katy Perry's 'Roar' from speakers to disperse a rally during the APEC summit. In the photo, Militants stage their anti-APEC Protest along Gil Puyat Ave. Mark Z. Saludes/Rappler.com
Philippine police played Katy Perry pop songs to disperse protesters at an Asia-Pacific leaders' summit on Thursday, November 19 enraging some demonstrators but amusing others.
Hundreds of
left-wing protesters rallied outside a venue where US
The rally edged
towards violence when protesters tried to break through lines of police, who
were carrying riot shields and wooden batons, to reach the summit venue.
Police responded
by firing water cannons and scuffled with protesters who were chanting:
"Junk APEC."
Then police
pulled out their secret weapon: pop princess Katy Perry on giant loudspeakers.
Perry's hit song
"Roar" was played at full volume, the top of a demonstration disco
playlist aimed at distracting the protesters and drowning out their chants.
Dolly Parton's
"Islands in the stream," David
Guetta's "Sexy B-tch," and the Bee Gee's "How deep is your
love" were among the other songs played against the protesters.
To add a street
bass beat, some of the police tapped their batons against their shields in time
with the music.
"It's
ridiculous," leftist member of parliament Carlos Isagani Zarate told
Agence France-Presse (AFP), as the protesters retreated to soul classic
"My Girl."
Many other
protesters also expressed anger at authorities trying to suppress their message
of opposition to globalisation and free-trade policies championed by APEC.
"We just
want to make our voices heard," 64-year-old mango farmer Candelario
Rusasena told AFP.
But others could
not hide their amusement.
"That was a
rude and desperate move," 54-year-old rice farmer Redo Pena told AFP as he
broke into a toothless grin.
A nation of
singers
Metro Manila police spokeswoman chief inspector Kimberly
Gonzales told AFP the music was aimed at de-escalating tensions.
"Filipinos
in general love music and it has a calming effect for everyone. This goes well
with our maximum tolerance policy during protests," Gonzales said.
The Philippines
It is not
uncommon for tourists to encounter taxi drivers, supermarket cashiers, and
airport security staff spontaneously breaking out into song.
Filipino
musicians are also a staple of hotel and cruise ship bands around the world.
And prisoners at
the main jail in Cebu, the Philippines
Police
spokeswoman Gonzales said using music at protests was not an unusual tactic,
and there was no intent to trivialise Thursday's rally.
"We
understand the seriousness of the issues. We don't mean to insult people,"
she said.
The protests
occurred as Philippine President Benigno Aquino was welcoming Obama, Chinese
President Xi Jinping and other leaders for the summit's second and final day.
The protesters
said they opposed APEC's free-trade agenda because it favoured big corporations
and neglected the poor.
"Aquino
should protect his people, globalisation has caused the prices of our goods to
go down. We barely break even," 47-year-old rice farmer Nida Floresca told
AFP.
"We don't
even have irrigation to water our crops. Aquino should think of us first."
Floresca came
with several neighbours from their farming town in La Union around 300
kilometres (180 miles) north of Manila
One police
officer estimated the crowd of protesters at about 2,000, although there were
no official numbers given.
More than 20,000
police and soldiers were deployed this week to ensure security during the APEC
summit.
Philippine
authorities said they had already been planning the nation's biggest ever
security operation for the meeting, which was ratcheted up even higher after
last week's deadly terrorist attacks in Paris.
http://www.rappler.com/nation/113421-police-katy-perry-disperse-apec-protesters
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