The Philippines: Running Wild in the Streets

As riots spread, Marcos cracks down and warns of worse to come

For Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Sept. 21 is normally a festive occasion, the annual Day of National Thanksgiving honoring the imposition of martial law in 1972. But the 200,000 demonstrators gathered in Manila's Post Office Square last Wednesday were commemorating another event: the unexplained assassination exactly one month earlier of opposition leader Benigno ("Ninoy") Aquino Jr. The throng shouted antigovernment slogans and cheered as speaker after speaker called on Marcos, 66, to resign after 17 years of rule. The rally ended peacefully in the late afternoon, but by evening...

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