Manila, Philippines - Tens of thousands of Roman Catholic devotees, mostly barefoot men, crammed Manila's main streets on Tuesday for an annual religious procession that venerates a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ.
The heaving mass of people jostled one another as they tried to touch the statue of the Black Nazarene — which many believe holds mystical powers — as the cart carrying the icon inched through the packed streets from Manila's Rizal Park to downtown Quiapo church.
Hundreds of police officers were deployed to secure the crowd, estimated by officials at at least 80,000, said Senior Inspector Benito de Leon, chief of the Quiapo district police.
De Leon said there had been no serious injuries reported, but several devotees were seen fainting amid the crush of bodies surging toward the statue.
Dozens were hurt when they fell back from the cart, or from the top of another devotees' shoulders as they tried to get closer to the statue, local radio stations reported.
The festival showcases the predominantly Christian nation's unique brand of Catholicism, which has been melded with folk superstitions.
Many of the devotees join the annual procession hoping to touch the life-size statue to atone for sins, ask favors or give thanks for blessings received, including recovery from illness. Some hurl towels for marshals to wipe on the statue believing the statues miraculous powers would rub off on them.
Tuesday's procession is a culmination of a two-day celebration highlighting the first half of the Jubilee Year declared by Manila's Archbishop Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales from May 31, 2006, to June 1, 2007, to mark the fourth centenary of the Black Nazarene.
Spanish missionaries brought the wooden statue to the Philippines in 1606.
"The devotion to the Black Nazarene is more than just a religious phenomenon," socio-anthropologist Jaime Biron Polo told ABS-CBN television. "It is also a reaffirmation of a social movement from our people, especially those that have been suffering for so long."
Polo said devotion to the Black Nazarene is an affirmation of faith in Jesus Christ as well as a collective affirmation of the devotees' yearning for peace, for good health and deliverance from all calamities and disasters, including poverty.