Eyewitnesses saw some police officers physically attack protesters before using tear gas, water cannon and stun grenades to force them from the area outside parliament.
The chief prosecutor of Morelos state, where retired Monsignor Salvador Rangel had disappeared, said “preliminary indications are that it may have been an ‘express’ kidnapping.”
The event marks the king’s first formal public engagement since Feb. 6, when Buckingham Palace announced that he would be taking a break from public duties to focus on his treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer.
The Philippine coast guard said its two vessels stood their ground at the Scarborough Shoal, but that one was damaged from the use of water cannon by two Chinese coast guard ships.