Philippine gunman coffin flag condemned by China

August 31, 2010

Chinese officials have been outraged at the decision to drape the Philippine flag over the coffin of the renegade former police officer who killed eight Hong Kong tourists in last week's dramatic bus siege.

The family of Rolando Mendoza covered his coffin with the national ensign when it was displayed in his hometown south of Manila prior to his funeral on Monday. Television footage of it led China to express "strong indignation" at the image.

A government-issued statement said, "Only someone of heroism, decency and integrity, not someone who inflicts atrocity on innocent lives" is worthy of such an honour.

The 11-hour stand-off was prompted by 55-year-old Mendoza's dismissal from the police force, following allegations of extortion. He took the bus to reinforce his demands that his dismissal be reviewed and, during a heavily-criticised storming by Philippine police, killed eight of the Chinese nationals on board. He was eventually killed by a police sniper.

Despite post mortems confirming that the victims were killed by Mendoza, rather than during the police operation, thousands of people are planning a rally in Hong Kong this week to demand justice for the eight tourists.

The local police have admitted that their negotiating and SWAT teams were poor and that they had missed several opportunities to take out Mendoza – once named as one of the country's "10 outstanding policemen" – before he started shooting.