EDITORIAL — Acts of violence

It was just as predicted. There wasn’t just indignation during the protests against corruption in the flood-control project dealings the other day; there was violence and vandalism. Well, at least in the Mendiola and Recto areas in Manila, anyway.

You have probably seen footage of it; masked youths dressed in black shirts, not really chanting for an end to corruption and more accountability from the government, and more bent on causing any form of destruction and violence.

One video shows them targeting the lobby of a hotel, as if the hotel had anything to do with the issue or offended them somehow. They broke the glass façade of the hotel, threw items in, then set those items on fire.

Then as if an afterthought, they trashed the motorcycles lined outside the hotel.

Another video shows more of them destroying traffic lights and spraying slogans on walls, slogans that had nothing to do at all with the protests.

From their behavior they don’t seem to be outraged people calling for an end to corruption; we have to conclude that they were just a mob of thrill seekers who wanted to commit violence and vandalism on a grand scale, corruption and accountability be damned.

Since some of them were also waving flags that have become synonymous with the protests in Indonesia and Nepal --a flag associated with an anime character and not really symbolic of serious political change-- perhaps they also wanted to feel what people in those places felt when they ran riot.

What other motives could they have had? According to the police, some of them were also members of a “hip-hop” gang and had inspired to violence by a “rapper.” We aren’t sure what to think of that.

However, we are thankful that the violence didn’t become widespread. And that protests in other parts of the country were peaceful.

If this was a move to create instability it failed miserably. Thankfully, majority of Filipinos are sensible enough to call for change without violence. If these were just random acts of violence and vandalism by thrillseekers then it should be treated accordingly.

Now many of these vandals are sitting in jail cells, waiting for their parents. How the minors are dealt with remains a question to be answered.