Farmers, youth advocates injured in police dispersal outside DAR

Several farmers and youth advocates were injured during a confrontation with police outside the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Quezon City on Monday, 19 October, after authorities attempted to dismantle a protest encampment.

According to protest organizers, police personnel moved to remove temporary bamboo structures erected outside the agency's office along Elliptical Road, triggering clashes as demonstrators tried to protect their belongings and maintain their camp.

The protesters claimed they had obtained verbal permission from both the DAR and the Quezon City government to establish the encampment.

Peasant organizations condemned the police intervention, describing it as harassment of farmers and agrarian reform advocates exercising their constitutional right to peaceful assembly.

The confrontation followed a similar incident on 16 October, when more than 60 police officers in riot gear reportedly attempted to dismantle another protest camp outside the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The protesters have been opposing land-use conversion and development projects they say threaten agricultural communities, displace farmers and undermine food security.

They are also demanding genuine agrarian reform and stronger protections for farmers and rural communities.

Despite the dispersal attempt, organizers said they would continue their activities ahead of Peasant's Day on Wednesday, 21 October.

The planned demonstration is also a remembrance of Presidential Decree No. 27, issued by late dictator former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. on 21 October 1972.

The decree instituted a land reform program covering tenant farmers cultivating rice and corn lands.

Peasant groups said the upcoming protest would highlight continuing concerns over land ownership, displacement and government policies affecting rural communities.

The demonstrators also criticized what they described as state repression and foreign economic influence over agricultural development.

The reported injuries, authorization to hold the encampment and circumstances surrounding the police operation have yet to be independently verified.