Philippine hostage drama

[quote]MANILA (Reuters) - Gunmen freed 31 children and two teachers held hostage for over nine hours in a bus in the Philippine capital Manila on Wednesday and then surrendered without violence.

Scores of onlookers lit candles outside the bus, parked in front of Manila City Hall, just before 7 p.m. (1100 GMT), the time the hostage-takers had said they would surrender.

A minute after the deadline, the door of the bus opened and children, many carrying school bags and toys, were lifted and handed over to waiting policemen, live television showed.

Onlookers cheered and many said they sympathized with the hostage-takers, one of whom said he wanted to highlight corruption in the Philippines and the lack of educational opportunities for poor children.

One man from within the bus handed over what appeared to be two grenades to a negotiator. He and another man also believed to be a hostage-taker were whisked away in police vehicles.[/quote]

[quote]“I am so sorry I took these children in a violent action to call the attention of the Filipino people to open their minds to the political reality,” Ducat said.

“There’s so much corruption in the country. We’re number one in Asia in corruption,” [/quote]

today.reuters.com/news/articlene … oryid=2007
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Damn. That’s a hell of a way to make a point.

Go to jail now thanks.

Yea all this is over education. Mind you, the teachers on the bus are getting pretty pissed over fact that the longer this goes on, the further behind they are getting with their lesson plans.

Thanks a lot man.