The Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, on Monday ordered police officers to kill any “idiot” who violently resist arrest.
Duterte gave the order when hundreds of people turned the funeral of a slain 17-year-old boy Kian Loyd delos Santos into a protest against his deadly war on drugs.
Santos was said to have been killed by anti-drugs officers on August 16, a situation that sparked public outrage.
Duterte, who was mid-way into his speech at the Hero’s Cemetery on the outskirts of Manila, ordered Jovie Espenido, the police chief of a town.
He said, “Your duty requires you to overcome the resistance of the person you are arresting… (if) he resists, and it is a violent one… you are free to kill the idiots, that is my order to you,”
The President contradicted himself again when he said, “murder and homicide and unlawful killings” were not allowed and that police had to uphold the rule of law while carrying out their duties.
