Crowds attend Manila’s religious festival despite bomb threats
MANILA, Philippines (AP) – Hundreds of thousands of barefoot devotees inched their way through Manila for an annual procession honoring a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ after police said they had foiled an attempt by Islamic militants to bomb the festival. Police, bomb-sniffing dogs and civilian volunteers were deployed last Sunday along the procession in Manila’s Quiapo district honoring the Black Nazarene, a wooden life-size statue brought from Mexico by Spaniards in 1606.
Devotees tried to touch the statue to ask special favors or give thanks for granted ones.