Karapatan and other progressive groups demanded justice and accountability for the violence unleashed by the police and state forces against the protesters in Mendiola on September 21. The group insisted on a full and independent investigation to hold accountable all those involved, from top officials down to the rank-and-file police.

Karapatan deputy secretary general Atty. Maria Sol Taule condemned Department of Interior and Local Government Sec. Jonvic Remulla, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, and the Manila Police District for their outright lies that no tear gas was used, no shots were fired, and no one died from the violence. “These are brazen attempts to cover up state crimes,” Taule said.

The group also condemned the police for claiming that they exercised “maximum tolerance” in dispersing the protests. Instead, the group declared that photographs, videos, and witness testimonies showed clearly that the police used “maximum brutality” in arresting and suppressing the protesters.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) also called out the “cover-up” of state crimes. “Local and national authorities aggressively bombarded the public with malicious disinformation narratives to cover up the grave abuses committed by the police,” Bayan declared.

The police deliberately stalled the release of the arrested protesters because their testimonies would expose the acts of violence committed against them. At least 216 individuals, including 91 minors, were arrested. Their bodies bore marks of torture, bruises, broken bones, head injuries, and trauma.

Some of them were students, vendors, delivery riders, construction workers, bystanders, and even persons with disabilities. During their inquiries in other police stations, Karapatan found that the police arrested even more individuals on September 21 but excluded them from the official list.

Beyond the arrests, one civilian also died on Recto Avenue, Manila, after being shot by police. Karapatan confirmed the death of construction worker Eric Saber who was shot on the night of September 21.

Taule said witnesses narrated that Saber had just come from the Recto train station and was waiting for a jeepney when he was shot from behind. Saber collapsed face down, was rushed to the hospital, but died on September 24.

“His grieving family cannot even afford to buy flowers [for the wake]. Why is it always the poor who carry the burden, while senators and politicians swim in billions of stolen public funds?” Taule asked.

She explained that Saber, a poor worker heading home, was killed by the police because they consider every poor Filipino as an enemy. “When the poor fight back, why are they branded as criminals?” Taule asked.

The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) stated that the long list of human rights violations against the poor proves that the state weaponizes the law against the oppressed people. “In this society, breaking a window is punished more swiftly than beating a child,” the lawyers’ group said.

The NUPL emphasized that such brutality is directed only at the poor. “When the powerful are implicated in corruption and human rights abuse, the response could not be more different: investigations that drag on indefinitely, shifting of blame, or complete silence,” the group said.

They added that no one is ever punished for extrajudicial killings, while political dynasties involved in corruption brazenly return to power as if nothing happened.

Karapatan declared that the September 21 protests exposed the Marcos regime’s fascist nature. The families of victims and groups demand an investigation, accountability for all those involved, the release of everyone illegally arrested, and justice for all victims of state violence.