Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 14, 1990 TAG: 9005140309
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MANILA, PHILIPPINES LENGTH: Medium
Truncheon-wielding police fired tear gas at hundreds of anti-base protesters during running confrontations through the streets of the capital.
At least 42 people were arrested and five hospitalized, witnesses and police said. Protesters, mostly students, retaliated by throwing small homemade bombs at police.
Rallies were held throughout the day and security was tight for the talks, which opened at the Central Bank building with about 500 police on hand. Five truckloads of riot police were deployed before the gate at Clark Air Base as about 400 base opponents rallied in nearby Angeles City.
U.S. and Philippine officials had expressed fears that the communist New People's Army would try to kill Americans before the talks on extending the lease on Clark and Subic Bay naval base as well as four smaller facilities. The lease is set to expire Sept. 16, 1991.
As the talks opened, the chief U.S. negotiator condemned the killings of two U.S. airmen near Clark on Sunday and assailed the "banditry" of communist rebels, blamed by authorities for the attack.
"This brutal and clumsy attempt to drive a wedge between the United States and the Philippines will fail," said Richard Armitage, a former assistant secretary of defense.
Police Capt. Gener Manguni said it appeared the rebels were responsible for the killings because of the style of the attack. Two or three Filipinos approached the Americans and shot them in the back of their heads with .45-caliber pistols, the rebels' favored weapon in street killings.
The dead servicemen were identified by Air Force officials as Airman John Raven, 19, of Delta Junction, Alaska, and Airman James Green, 20, of Craig, Colo. A companion, Airman 1C Randall Moore, 23, managed to escape.
They were among 280 airmen and support personnel assigned to the 8th Aircraft Generation Squadron on temporary duty from Kunsan Air Base, 110 miles south of Seoul, South Korea.
Police rounded up more than 200 people for questioning in the attack but no charges were filed.
The Navy banned off-post liberty for the 40,000 troops, Defense Department civilians and military dependents at U.S. installations in the Philippines.
Eight Americans have died in politically motivated slayings in the Philippines since April 1989. On May 4, suspected rebels killed American Marine Gunnery Sgt. John Fredette near the Subic Bay naval base, 50 miles west of Manila.
The rebels made no claim of responsibility for Sunday's killings. But in a media statement the New People's Army denounced the bases talks.
by CNB