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January 20, 2002, AFP, Hundreds press for Estrada's release on anniversary of downfall,

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January 20, 2002, AFP, Hundreds press for Estrada's release on anniversary of downfall,

MANILA, Jan 20 (AFP) -

Around a thousand supporters of former Philippines president Joseph Estrada marched on a military hospital Sunday to demand his release from detention there, exactly a year after he was deposed in a popular revolt.

At least a hundred riot policemen surrounded the Veterans Memorial Medical Center to prevent the protesters from entering the northern Manila compound, journalists on the scene said.

The demonstrators occupied half the street fronting the hospital, bearing placards that read "Free President Erap" and "No Economic Progress After One Year".

Estrada, nicknamed "Erap", and one of his sons have been detained at the hospital since May as they went on trial for plunder, or massive corruption, a crime punishable by death.

The Estradas have rejected charges that they amassed an 80 million-dollar fortune by taking kickbacks from illegal gambling bosses, skimming off public funds and engaging in insider trading, among others.

A bloodless popular revolt backed by the military broke out a year ago following a corruption scandal that later served as the basis of the corruption charges against the 64 year-old former Filipino leader.

Across town, about 500 leftwing protesters marched on the presidential palace to denounce Arroyo's alleged economic mismanagement as well as her government's decision to allow US Special Forces in the southern Philippines to advise Filipino troops on fighting Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerrillas.

Arroyo attended a Roman Catholic mass earlier Sunday, and then visited seven slum communities across Manila so she was not inside the palace during the peaceful leftwing protest.

Arroyo on Sunday advised "hardcore" Estrada supporters to "abandon plans to instigate another 'people power' revolt" designed to unseat her from office just like her predecessor.

"Without the blessing of God that will not prosper," she told reporters.

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