Protest in Manila after police kill 14 suspected rebels

Hundreds of protesters gather outside the headquarters of Philippine National Police in Manila protesting a police operation last Saturday where 14 suspected communist rebels were killed. Protesters displayed 14 crosses bearing the names of the victims outside police headquarters.

Manila: About a hundred protestors threw eggs at the seal of the Philippine National Police in Manila to condemn a police operation last Saturday where 14 suspected communist rebels were killed.

Philippine police said on Sunday the suspected rebels were killed after they opened fire during raids in a central province, but rights groups countered that the men were farmers and the latest victims of extrajudicial killings.

Protesters displayed 14 crosses bearing the names of the victims outside police headquarters.

Protest leader Carlos Zarate called the incident "a massacre, targeting members of the progressive farmers organization."

Dozens of police, backed by army troops, were to conduct court-authorized home searches in Negros Oriental province on Saturday when the 14 men violently fought back, police officials said.

A police officer was shot in the leg and wounded in the anti-insurgency and criminality sweep which also led to the arrests of 15 other suspects, authorities said.

Human rights and farmers' groups condemned the killings of the men they said were farmers, including two village chiefs, and called for an independent investigation.