(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-29 15:18

Manila - Rebel Philippine soldiers stormed a luxury Manila hotel on Thursday and called on the military to immediately withdraw support for embattled President Gloria Arroyo, witnesses said.

An armed soldier guards the stairs leading from the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel in Makati City, metro Manila, November 29, 2007. [Agencies]

The soldiers, numbering around 30, were accompanied by armed guards as they broke down a door of the hotel, overwhelmed security guards and read out a statement against Arroyo with a full list of their demands.

Heavily-armed government troops quickly surrounded the hotel in Manila's Makati financial district - the same location of a failed 2003 coup against Arroyo allegedly led by many of the same soldiers.

The renegades urged Arroyo to resign and called on the military, a central power in this vast Southeast Asian island nation with the power to make and break its leaders, to turn against her.

"We are joining our people in calling for a change in leadership," said Army Brigadier-General Danilo Lim.

"We call on the military to withdraw support for Mrs Arroyo in order to end her unconstitutional and illegal occupation of the presidency," he said.

People were going in and out of the Peninsula Hotel freely but a guest said he had been stopped by men with machine guns from going up to the second floor, where Lim and others were said to be planning their next move.

The surprise events appeared to have been well orchestrated.

A detailed website immediately appeared on the Internet, announcing Lim and Senator Antonio Trillanes as the leaders of the uprising. The site called on the Filipino people to mass in the financial district.

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