Arroyo

MANILA (Reuters):

Elite military and police units stormed the Manila Peninsula Hotel yesterday, ending a short-lived coup attempt by a small group of soldiers and others who had called on the army to mutiny.

The government forces fired tear gas into the lobby of the hotel and used an armoured personnel carrier (APC) to batter down its glass doors before storming in, but there were no casualties.

The rebel soldiers, a senator and a handful of priests who had occupied the plush icon in the sprawling city of 12 million people, were arrested.

Caught in the action

Most of the guests had been evacuated before the assault, but more than 100 people, including hotel staff and journalists, were caught in the midst of the action.

Senator Antonio Trillanes, who led a failed mutiny in 2003 against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and was elected to the upper house in May, was hauled away in plastic wrist restraints.

Fellow mutineers, including around two dozen soldiers, a priest and a retired bishop, were also arrested along with scores of journalists.

Authorities said the journalists would be freed after identity checks.

"We are going out for the sake of the safety of everybody," Trillanes earlier told reporters. "For your sake, because we will not live with our conscience if some of you get hurt or get killed in the crossfire. We cannot afford that."

There were no reports of any casualties.

"The wrong ways of some do not speak well for the nation or the armed forces and the police," Arroyo said in a brief television address, her only public reaction. "Just like before, we will impose the full force of the law strictly and without favour."

It was the latest in a series of coups in the Philippines since the ouster of dictator Ferdinand Marcos two decades ago.