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Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines president, appears to have compared himself to Hitler, saying he would be “happy to slaughter” millions of drug addicts in his bloody war on crime.
During a press conference in his home city of Davao, the former prosecutor told reporters that he had been compared to a “cousin of Hitler” by his critics.
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte to extend drug war as ’cannot kill them all’
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“If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have...,” he said, pausing and pointing to himself.
“Hitler massacred three million Jews ... there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”
More than six million Jews were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators before and during the second world war, according to historians.
Duterte has spent his first three months in office running a campaign to kill all involved in the rampant drugs trade, including alleged addicts, causing outrage from rights groups and foreign governments.
More than 3,500 alleged drug dealers and addicts have been killed, about a third of them in police operations but the majority by armed vigilante militias. Duterte has publicly encouraged civilians to kill addicts and said he will not prosecute police for extrajudicial executions.
“You know my victims. I would like (them) to be all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition,” he said during the press conference early on Friday.
Oliver Holmes in Bangkok and agencies
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report
* Friday 30 September 2016 06.14 BST Last modified on Friday 30 September 2016 11.33 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/26/saudi-arabia-protest-petition-end-guardianship-law-women
Duterte cites Hitler, wants to kill millions of addicts
Philippine president says he wants to slaughter millions of drug addicts, comparing it with Hitler’s massacre of Jews.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has appeared to compare himself with Adolf Hitler, saying he would be “happy to slaughter” millions of drug addicts just like Nazi Germany killed three million Jews.
“Hitler massacred three million Jews ... there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them,” Duterte said early on Friday on his arrival in Davao City after a visit to Vietnam.
Philippines drug war: Duterte does not want interference
“If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have ...,” he said, pausing and pointing to himself, according to AFP news agency.
While Hitler’s victims were innocent people, Duterte said his targets were “all criminals” and that getting rid of them would “finish the [drug] problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition”.
Historians say that six million Jews were killed by the Nazis under Hitler before and during World War II.
Duterte was elected in a May vote on the back of a promise to wage war on drugs and other crimes in the country of 100 million people.
He took office on June 30 and more than 3,500 people have been killed since then in police operations and attacks by unidentified assailants.
Unleashing profanity
Duterte’s war on drugs has been heavily criticised by the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, the Catholic Church and human rights groups.
But he has hit back, often with abusive language, to the criticism.
When the European Parliament last week called on the Philippine government to put an end to the killings of drug suspects, Duterte replied by unleashing a series of expletives against the bloc.
“I have read the condemnation of the European Union. I’m telling them, ’F**k you,’” Duterte said in a mix of Filipino and English, before describing the EU as hypocrites trying to “atone” for guilt over its members occupying other countries in the past.
Earlier this month, Duterte also directed profanities at UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and US President Barack Obama, after they made similar comments about the mounting death toll in the Philippines.
Duterte later apologised for calling Obama “a son of a whore”.
Al Jazeera News And News Agencies
Philippine: Duterte seeks death penalty in war on crime
Philippine president seeks restoration of capital punishment in his fight against drug traffickers and users.
President Rodrigo Duterte has made a case for the restoration of the death penalty in the Philippines, saying the law had previously lost its effectiveness because it was not fully implemented.
Duterte told reporters on Monday that past presidents had succumbed to the pressure of the Catholic church and other “bleeding hearts” who argued against capital punishment “because only God can kill”.
“The problem with that is, I ask you, ‘What if there is no God?’” Duterte said at the presidential palace in the capital, Manila.
“When a one-year-old, an 18-month-old baby is taken from the mother’s arms, brought under a Jeep and raped, and killed, where is God,” he asked.
“People in the Philippines no longer believe in the laws, because the fear is not there,” Duterte said in a mix of Filipino and English.
“That is why I said, give me back the death penalty.”
While professing that he personally believes in God, the Philippine leader said, the existence of a higher being is a “perpetual question” for him, when he sees “heartaches, sorrows and agony” around him.
Since he took office in June end, more than 3,500 people have been killed as part of Duterte’s war on drug traffickers and users.
And he has not taken kindly to the global condemnation of the spiralling death toll. Last week the Philippine president lambasted European Union after it called for “strict monitoring of human rights abuses” in the country.
Earlier this month, Duterte directed profanities at UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and US President Barack Obama, after they made similar comments about the mounting death toll in the the Asia Pacific nation.
On Friday, in a speech to police officers, Duterte made a similar comment while talking about illegal drugs in the country, and the rules of engagement in dealing with suspected drug criminals.
“Maybe God doesn’t want all these killings. But never mind, God is not my enemy. I’ll talk to him when I get there,” he said, drawing laughter from the officers.
“I’ll ask him, ’If you are really God, you didn’t do anything, and the Filipinos are going crazy’” with illegal drugs “by the millions”, he said.
During the campaign, Duterte had promised to re-impose the death penalty as part of his policy to deal with illegal drugs in the country.
On Monday, he said he has “always been a hardliner when it comes to the penal laws”.
Ted Regencia
* Al Jazeera News. 27 SEPTEMBER 2016:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/09/philippine-duterte-seeks-death-penalty-war-crime-160926201845609.html
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