Police Van Runs Down Protesters Outside US Embassy in Philippines

Police officers hit fleeing protesters during a violent dispersal outside the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines, Oct. 19, 2016.

A police van ran down protesters engaged in an anti-U.S. rally outside the U.S. embassy in the Philippine capital, Manila, Wednesday, leaving several people injured.

Some 1,000 protesters had gathered in front of the embassy to call for an end to the U.S. military presence in the Philippines. Police fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse the crowd.

Television news footage showed protesters surrounding a police van and hitting it with wooden batons before the driver started repeatedly ramming protesters with the vehicle.

A protester who was run over by a Philippine National Police van waits for treatment outside the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines, Oct. 19, 2016.

Demonstrators hospitalized 

One of the protest leaders, Renato Reyes, said at least three of the protesters were hospitalized after being run over by the police van.

Dozens of protesters were arrested during the rally after they threw red paint on a group of police officers.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures during his address to a Filipino business sector in suburban Pasay city south of Manila, Philippines, Oct. 13, 2016.

Duterte shifting away from US 

In recent weeks, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has increased calls for a foreign policy that does not involve cooperation with the United States and has attacked President Barack Obama personally, calling him a “son of a whore.”