50,000 PARTICIPANTS IN HK EXPECT TO MARCH OVER MANILA HOSTAGE DEATHS
Chinese students studying in the Philippines pray after they offered flowers near the tourist bus which was hijacked by an ex-policeman and subsequently stormed by police in Manila, yesterday.
HONG KONG - Political parties from Hong Kong plan a protest march on Sunday over the deaths of eight of the city's residents in a Philippines bus siege. Organisers say they expect 50,000 participants.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said he has asked Philippine President Benigno Aquino to probe into the incident "thoroughly and professionally," according to a statement on Saturday.
Hong Kong Police sent two officers to Manila to help with the investigation, Undersecretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said in a separate release.
Source; AFP
- The rally is intended as an outlet for Hong Kong people grieving after the killings on the tour bus in Manila, said Andrew To, a Hong Kong district councilor and chairman of the League of Social Democrats, one of the organisers.
Hong Kong people, by the tens of thousands, have been signing condolence books and posting on-line messages, some containing derogatory language, since a Philippine former police officer seized the bus with 25 people aboard August 23.- Eight members of a Hong Kong tour group died in the siege that ended after police stormed the bus and killed the gun-wielding former officer.
- "I have to stress this is not against the Philippine people," To said. "The government should make a report on this issue and try to explain to the Hong Kong people how this could have happened."
Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said he has asked Philippine President Benigno Aquino to probe into the incident "thoroughly and professionally," according to a statement on Saturday.Hong Kong Police sent two officers to Manila to help with the investigation, Undersecretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said in a separate release.
HONG KONG FAMILIES RECOUNTS ORDEAL WITH PI LONE GUNMAN
HONG KONG - Flags were flown at half mast in Hong Kong and authorities issued a travel warning to the Philippines. Many Hong Kong residents, including the city's leader Donald Tsang, criticised the slow and seemingly disorganised manner in which the commandos tried to storm the tour bus as the hostage taker, a disgruntled ex-police officer, was firing inside.
Other survivors spoke of harrowing scenes inside the bus as commandos battled the gunman for more than an hour before he was shot in the head and killed.
"I hid under a chair," Tracey Wong, 15, told reporters from her hospital bed, her voice barely audible. "The police sprayed pepper spray and it was tough for us inside."
She later learned that both her parents had been killed.
They had been on a four-day package tour to the Philippines a popular Southeast Asian holiday destination.
Source:Reuters
- "Why didn't the Philippines government help us earlier?" murmured Ms. Leung, a vacant look in her eyes.
- Several small protests were held outside Hong Kong's Philippines consulate.
- A Hong Kong woman who survived a siege on a Manila bus recounts how her husband charged the lone gunman, only to be killed.
Another teenage survivor says she cowered for her life during the ordeal. The two were among 15 tourists still aboard the bus as Philippine commandos undertook what police now acknowledge was a botched rescue.- "I can't bear this reality," said the middle-aged woman, identified as Ms Leung, half-choking on her grief as she spoke to Hong Kong's cable television. "I wanted to embrace my husband and die with him. But then I thought of my children."
Ms Leung also lost her two daughters in the gunfire -- Jessie, 14, filmed peeking through the bus curtains, and Doris, 21, who had been studying in Canada.- The sole remaining member of her family, her teenage son Jason, was in intensive care after undergoing brain surgery.
- There were seven families in the 21-member tour group, including a tour guide, local media reported.
Other survivors spoke of harrowing scenes inside the bus as commandos battled the gunman for more than an hour before he was shot in the head and killed."I hid under a chair," Tracey Wong, 15, told reporters from her hospital bed, her voice barely audible. "The police sprayed pepper spray and it was tough for us inside."
She later learned that both her parents had been killed.
They had been on a four-day package tour to the Philippines a popular Southeast Asian holiday destination.
9 KILLED IN PHILIPPINES HOSTAGE STAND OFF
MANILA, Philippine - A 12-hour hostage stand-off on a bus in the Philippines ended in bloodshed on monday with officials saying that at least eight tourists had died along with the disgruntled former policeman who took them hostage in a bid to get his job back.
"The outcome is very disappointing. It is a tragedy because a pleasure trip has ended up with casualties and injuries," the city's Chief Executive Donald Tsang told a press briefing.
Tsang said he had been unable to reach Philippine President Benigno Aquino and urged the Filipino authorities to provide a full account of the deadly incident.The Hong Kong government yesterday lamented the tragedy.
Source: Reuters
- The hostage-taker, former senior inspector Rolando Mendoza, panicked when he saw on the TV in the tourist bus how his brother had been manhandled and arrested in Manila's tourist district, according to radio and TV reports. He then used his rifle and a hunting knife to attack his hostages, alternately shooting and slitting the throats of his victims. Eight were killed, while six others were critically wounded.
- At least six hostages survived, four of whom were seen crawling out of the back door of the bus after police stormed it in the evening. Police took action when the hostage-taker started shooting, according to police Senior Superintendent Nelson Yabut.
- Some of the victims had slit throats, doctors at the Manila Doctors Hospital confirmed, adding that medical staff had been sent to the scene.
- TV and radio reports confirmed that Mendoza had been killed, but it remained unclear how.
- The crisis began when Mendoza, 55, armed with an M16 rifle, seized a bus carrying tourists from Hong Kong to demand his reinstatement to the force.
- According to newspaper reports from 2008, he was among five officers who were charged with robbery, extortion and making threats after a Manila hotel chef filed a complaint against them.
The gunman released nine hostages during the afternoon — leaving 15 inside the bus — and demanded his job back to free the rest. Despite hopes that negotiations might bring the stand-off to a peaceful conclusion, tensions escalated as night closed in.
"The outcome is very disappointing. It is a tragedy because a pleasure trip has ended up with casualties and injuries," the city's Chief Executive Donald Tsang told a press briefing.Tsang said he had been unable to reach Philippine President Benigno Aquino and urged the Filipino authorities to provide a full account of the deadly incident.The Hong Kong government yesterday lamented the tragedy.
VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
