Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte launched a fierce attack on the European Union after it condemned his brutal crackdown on crime.
Rodrigo Duterte said the EU parliament was acting out of guilt after it called on him to halt “the current wave of extrajudicial executions and killings”.
The president said “hypocritical” former colonial powers like France and Britain were trying to atone for their own sins.
Since Rodrigo Duterte took office at the end of June about 3,000 people have been killed.
They have been killed either by police or vigilantes, after Rodrigo Duterte effectively sanctioned the murder of criminals and drugs dealers.
The killings have been widely condemned internationally.
The European Parliament said it was concerned about the “extraordinarily high numbers killed during police operations… in the context of an intensified anti-crime and anti-drug campaign”, and asked Rodrigo Duterte to launch an “immediate” investigation.
Rodrigo Duterte, 71, hit back angrily, saying the European Parliament’s colonial-era ancestors killed “thousands” of Arabs and other peoples.
“They’re taking the high ground to assuage their feelings of guilt. But who did I kill?
“Assuming it to be true – 1,700, who are they? Criminals. You call that genocide,” he told officials in Davao.
“Now the EU has the gall to condemn me.”
The president also swore repeatedly during the outburst, and raised his middle finger in a gesture of defiance.
Rodrigo Duterte said on September 18 he needed to extend his crime war for another six months because the drug problem was worse than he expected, adding on September 20 that he would shield police and soldiers from prosecution.
