MANILA: A Dutch activist blamed for making a Philippine policeman cry was detained yesterday, the immigration bureau said.
Thomas van Beersum was the protester who was photographed standing up to and yelling at a weeping Filipino riot policeman during an anti-government protest in Manila on July 22, bureau spokeswoman Antonette Mangrobang said. At the rally outside parliament, where President Benigno Aquino was making his annual policy address, “he participated in a protest rally... where he berated and (used) foul words directed at the government and a police officer,” she said.
“His real intention in coming to this country was not for tourism, business or pleasure but to protest against the government and engage in partisan political activity which proves him undesirable,” she added.
Photographs showing policeman Joselito Sevilla weeping as he holds back van Beersum and other activists, spread around the world on the Internet. Sevilla later told local television that he was crying from hunger and exhaustion as he secured parliament. Van Beersum was held by immigration yesterday at Manila airport as he prepared to board a flight back to the Netherlands, she said. AFP
