1.
MV Leader of strikers talking to demonstrators (3 shots)
0.26

2.
GTV Demonstrators with banners & effigies (8 shots)
1.25

3.
MV Onlookers
1.26

4.
MV & CU Marchers and banners
1.39

5.
GTV & MTV Students run through streets (4 shots)
1.49

6.
BV Police watch
1.54

7.
GTV Crowd gathered
1.57

8.
GTV Crowd scatters as tear gas is fired
2.05

9.
GTV Riot police and vehicles.
2.11



Initials OJP/AH/BB/2102 JON/AH/BB/2113



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Jeepney drivers in Manila went on strike on Wednesday (13th January) in protest at increased fuel costs. After supporting student activists had joined the drivers' demonstration in front of the City Hall, and begun a street march, a riot erupted and four students died from injuries.

More than 2,000 students and jeepney drivers rallied in front of Manila's City Hall to listen to speeches condemning President Marcos and oil companies for a two-centavo increase in the price of petrol in the Philippines. They then marched in groups along the main streets to the Plaza Miranda. During the march some of the demonstrators, armed with home-made bombs and stones, fought a running battle with the police. Others panicked and fled.

The four students killed suffered bomb and gunshot wounds, while 30 others...including three policemen...were injured.

Most of the city's 15,000 jeepney drivers, whose vehicles are a type of minibus, had disassociated themselves from the Plaza protest after attending the rally. Police officials blamed student activists for the later violence. Immediately afterwards, President Marcos, speaking on radio and television, warned that he might impose martial law if the violence continued.