Phillipine’s authoritarian president Rodrigo Duterte has ordered his security forces to shoot down anyone causing unrest while the nation undergoes Coronavirus lockdown.
The Philippines has so far detected 2,311 cases and reported 96 deaths, with the country on a two weeks lock down which has resulted in poor families and workers complaining of not having food to eat.
Duterte has now ordered his military to kill anyone who disobeys government lock down rules, hours after some people from a slum community were arrested for holding a protest during the lock down.
Duterte speaking late Wednesday, said; “My orders are to the police and military, also village officials, that if there is trouble or the situation arises that people fight and your lives are on the line, shoot them dead,” Duterte said.
“Instead of causing trouble, I’ll send you to the grave,” he said.
International Human Rights Advocacy group, Amnesty International, reacting to Duterte’s orders said in a statement;
“It is deeply alarming that President Duterte has extended a policy of shoot-to-kill… Deadly, unchecked force should never be referred to as a method to respond to an emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic.”
