More than 6,000 people have died in the seven months since President Rodrigo Duterte ordered an unprecedented war on drugs, which has drawn global criticism for alleged human rights abuses (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Manila (AFP) - Thousands of Catholic faithful gathered in the Philippine capital on Saturday for a "show of force" in the biggest rally yet to stop extrajudicial killings in President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war. More than 6,000 people have died since Duterte took office seven months ago and ordered an unprecedented crime war that has drawn global criticism for alleged human rights abuses, but is popular with many in the mainly Catholic country. It does not show our humanity.”

Duterte, 71, has attacked the Church as being “full of shit” and “the most hypocritical institution” for speaking out against a campaign that he says would save generations of Filipinos from the drug menace. Nearly 80 percent of the Philippines’ 100 million people are Catholic and until recently the church had been hesitant to criticize Duterte’s war on drugs. Police say about 10,000 people joined the "Walk for Life" march and rally Saturday starting at dawn at the Rizal Park, carrying placards that read "Choose life" and "No to death penalty." It is

 saddening to see, sometimes it drives me to tears how violent words seem so natural and ordinary,” said Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle, the country’s highest-ranking Church official. Dawn, which is supposed to be the hour of a new start, is becoming an hour of tears and fears," Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the bishops' conference, told the crowd. Among those who attended Saturday's event was Senator Leila de Lima, a former human rights commissioner who is one of Duterte's most vocal opponents. De Lima, who has repeatedly insisted the charges against her are trumped up to silence her and intimidate other Duterte critics, said she attended Saturday's event as a show of solidarity.
As many as fifty thousand people gather in Manila for a march organized by the Philippine Catholic Church to protest the Philippine Drug War.