The Philippines are demanding that Washington hand over a U.S. Marine who allegedly murdered a transgender Filipino.
Groups of activists already burned a mock U.S. flag in attempts to get the U.S. to let them try the unnamed Marine under their legal system, reports The Associated Press.
A Caucasian foreigner, believed to be a U.S. Marine, checked in a motel with Jefferey Laude, 26, who was later found dead beside a toilet bowl in the room, reports AP. The Caucasian man escaped before being stopped.
A witness, who is a friend of Laude's, claims to have spotted a U.S. Marine leaving a bar with Laude the night of the attack, reports AP.
Demonstrators from the Philippines are calling the murder a hate crime, according to AP, because Laude was transgender.
Protesters worry that if the Marine stays under U.S. custody they are going to see a repeat of the 2005 crime when U.S. Marine Daniel Smith was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for raping a Filipino woman, but only served about three weeks in jail, reports AP.
"We call for the immediate junking of the Visiting Forces Agreement which has been proven to not protect the rights of the Filipino People but are in favor of protecting the U.S. troops and its imperialist power," a U.S. based activist group said in a statement.
The Visiting Forces Agreement was used by the U.S. in Smith's case to bring him back to America after he was convicted.
The Marine is being held on the USS Peleliu in the Subic Bay free port, about 50 miles northwest of Manila, while Laude's death is investigated, as U.S. Marine spokesman Col. Brad Bartelt tells AP.
