Analysis: 'People power' politics

The protesters want their demands taken seriously

By Simon Ingram in the Philippines

The eruption of violence in Manila, while widely predicted, signals President Arroyo's failure to defuse the most severe crisis of her short administration.

The last outburst of so-called "people power", which brought Mrs Arroyo to power in January, was overwhelmingly peaceful.

The early phases of the current protests also steered clear of trouble.

Mrs Arroyo: Pledged to crush opponents

But there have been persistent indications that ambitious politicians and others close to former president Estrada have been manipulating the demonstrations by the ousted leader's supporters, to their own ends, perhaps with the eventual aim of toppling the government.

There may well be truth in such claims - not least because the crisis comes in the final stages of campaigning for important national and local elections on 14 May.

For this reason several commentators have said the arrest of Mr Estrada last week was ill timed.

But equally there's no disputing the frustration of the tens, sometimes hundreds, of thousands of people who have spent the past six days camped out at the celebrated Edsa shrine.

Masses outcast

Overwhelmingly these crowds represent the impoverished masses of the Philippine population.

They are a section of society long excluded from the elite world of Philippine politics and treated with disdain or worse by many of its practitioners.

The protesters felt their anger over Mr Estrada's treatment following his arrest, and their demands for his reinstatement, were not taken seriously.

Mrs Arroyo scarcely helped the situation on Monday when she told a televised news conference that she was looking forward to crushing the forces plotting her downfall.

She is being given the chance to fulfill that boast sooner than she perhaps expected.