KARAPATAN condemns the arrest of animal rights and climate justice activist Edison Yu last June 8, 2024 and demands that the unjust and unfounded charges against him be dropped.

Yu was set to join a solidarity action opposing the genocide of the Palestinian people in front of the Israeli embassy at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City, when he was arrested.

According to reports, Yu was near the Israeli embassy, waiting for a friend and taking pictures of the buildings in the area to while away his time when diplomat security officer Rodolfo Osorio Jr. confronted him and demanded an ID. Yu refused and said he would just leave. Unknown to him, however, the security personnel had followed him as he walked away. The latter caught up with Yu in the vicinity of BDO and suddenly hit him in the face, and an altercation between the two happened. Yu is confident that CCTV footages in the area will show that he was a victim of assault and not the other way around.

Ironically, it is Yu who is now detained at Camp Bagong Diwa and facing complaints of alarm and scandal, unjust vexation, physical assault and oral disobedience.

KARAPATAN supports the call for the immediate release of Edison Yu. The right to protest against Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people should be respected and upheld.