Police van rams protesters in front of US Embassy

A police officers stands next to a bloodied protester after he was injured in a violent dispersal outside the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. A Philippine police van rammed into protesters, leaving several bloodied, as an anti-U.S. rally turned violent Wednesday at the American embassy in Manila.
AP/Bullit Marquez

MANILA, Philippines — A police van has rammed into protesters, leaving several bloodied, as an anti-U.S. rally turned violent at the American Embassy in Manila.

Protest leader Renato Reyes says at least three student activists had to be taken to a hospital after they were ran over by the van driven by a police officer.

Television footage showed the van repeatedly ramming the protesters as it drove wildly back and forth after protesters surrounded it. Police later arrested several protesters who broke into a line of riot police and hurled red paint at the embassy.

The violence happened as hundreds of protesters gathered to demand an end to the presence of U.S. troops in the country and to back a call for an independent foreign policy by President Rodrigo Duterte.

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