President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines declared a state of emergency this morning as she struggled against a reported coup plot and a possible repeat of the protests that ousted two of her predecessors.
Clashes erupted as police used water cannons to disperse about 5,000 protesters defying a ban on rallying at a shrine to the 1986 revolt that ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The military barricaded its camps to keep troops from joining in and detained a general allegedly involved in the takeover plot.
Ms Arroyo said her action was the result of ongoing efforts by the political opposition, along with both the extreme left and the extreme right, to bring down the elected government.
"I am declaring a state of emergency because of the clear threat to the nation," a defiant Ms Arroyo said in a taped, nationally televised statement.
"This is my warning against those who threaten the government: the whole weight of the law will fall on your treason. You are unhinging the economy from its strengthening pillars."
Ms Arroyo claimed the military had quashed an effort by some military officers and their men to intervene in politics.
"There were a few who tried to break from the armed forces chain of command, to fight the civilian government and establish a regime outside the constitution," Ms Arroyo said. "We crushed this attempt. As commander in chief, I control the situation."
Ms Arroyo held a pre-dawn emergency meeting of her national security council as the crisis threatened to spiral out of control.
But she stopped short of declaring martial law, a sensitive issue as Marcos used it to rule by decree.
Her chief of staff said the declaration will not include a curfew but bans rallies, allows arrest without a warrant, permits the president to call in the military to intervene and lets her take over facilities including media outlets that may affect national security.