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Manhattan humiliates GMA

NEW YORK (Sept. 15) — The final public appearance of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo this week in New York City was bombarded with protest from Anti-Arroyo groups so fierce, that she was “clearly in a stage of discomfort” according to ticketed visitors to the Philippine Consulate who observed Arroyo hobnobbing with VIPs during an art exhibition.

According to Berna Ellorin of BAYAN USA, a co-convenor for the “Gotta-Go-Glo” tour, “The 90 person protest across the street from the Consulate commanded chants calling for Arroyo’s ouster so loud and resonant that attendees inside the gallery showing could hear us from deep inside the Consulate building, disrupting the flow of the evening’s posh event.”

All stops were pulled to quell initiatives for another follow-up spectacle to last Monday’s earlier Anti-Arroyo demonstration, including harassments by the New York Police Department and Secret Security officers.

“An advanced few of us came holding folded up placards, waiting for our colleagues right in front of the Consulate near a public mailbox. We were immediately threatened by NYPD and security officials who claimed we would face arrest if we didn’t move, even though all we were doing was standing on the sidewalk, waiting,” stated Arcy Yuson of Anakbayan.

But even forcing protestors across the street for the presidential multi-car grand entrance to the event site could not keep the public’s ogling eyes steady when protestors unfurled a gigantic, blimp-sized banner reading “Oust the US-Arroyo Regime- Bayan USA.”

The “Gotta-Go-Glo” Tour, an initiative of BAYAN USA, NY Coalition for Gloria’s Ouster, NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, Anakbayan NY/NJ and Philippine Forum Community Action fielded Rapid Action Teams or RATS, tasked to hound Arroyo at sightings around the city. Arroyo landed earlier this week with much-anticipation to preside over the Security Council of the United Nations during the 2005 World Summit at the UN building.

Anti-Arroyo groups in New York responded early on with a vow to “humiliate and expose this fake head of state where ever she goes,” stated Ellorin.

For Arroyo and some 100+ guests at the Consulate that evening, those objectives for humiliation were sourly met.

Allied organizations that joined the BAYAN USA’s Fifth Avenue protest calling for Arroyo’s ouster included the International Action Center, Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV) Organizing Asian Communities,Troops Out Now Coalition, The Million Worker March, NY Labor Against the War, Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST), Be Not Afraid, Black and White Movement, Contak Philippines, and Movement for a Free Philippines, as well as individuals traveling to New York from Los Angeles and the Philippines. Even a handful of ticketed guests to the Consulate who originally came to see the exhibit opted to join the protest across the street instead.

“The movement to Oust Gloria is a broad, mixed bag of goods. We have people of different races, nationalities, and orientations forging a strong unity here in Fifth Avenue calling for Arroyo’s removal from Malacañang. Tonight’s protest proved that this is just not a call from the people of the Philippines, it is call from the people of the world,” Ellorin ended.

Arroyo is expected to return to the Philippines this week, where nationwide demonstrations calling for People Power 3 and the establishment of a transitional council in Arroyo’s place have multiplied considerably since impeachment charges against Arroyo—including bribery, graft, corruption, and record-breaking human rights violations— were voted out by Congress earlier this month.

BAYAN USA and allies will hold a “Good bye and Good Riddance, Gloria” farewell party in front of the Consulate on Friday, September 16 beginning at 5:30pm in front of the Philippine Consulate at 556 Fifth Avenue and 45th Street. The group also announced plans for a Filipino contingent to the upcoming national anti-war demonstration in Washington DC on September 24th, where calls for Gloria’s ouster will be echoed alongside the demand for the removal of US troops in the Philippines. # Via NORDIS

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