Incredible scenes as thousands of Catholic devotees jostle to touch statue of the Black Nazarene on Philippines feast day

Heightened terrorism fears and recent bomb attacks in southern Philippines resulted in more than 7,000 cops being deployed to protect devotees in the annual procession of the wooden Black Nazarene.

Police told Associated Press (AP) that they expect up to five million people to join today's dawn-to-midnight procession.

Although cops are not aware of any specific threat, they drafted in thousands of personnel, including bomb squads backed by a surveillance helicopter, to secure the annual procession of the wooden Black Nazarene.

Authorities imposed a gun and liquor ban and cellphone signals were jammed in the vicinity of the procession.

Flights over the area were prohibited along with sailing in nearby Manila Bay and along a key river, where special police and coast guard forces guarded bridges that the mass of devotees passed through.

Despite the security threats and the tropical heat – temperatures soared to 30C (86F) – mobs of devotees in maroon shirts put their life on the edge by squeezing their way into the tight pack of humanity surrounding a carriage carrying the life-size statue of Christ.

Crowned with thorns and bearing a cross, the Nazarene statue is believed to have been brought from Mexico to Manila on a galleon in 1606 by Spanish missionaries.

The ship that carried it caught fire, but the charred statue survived.

Some believe the statue's endurance, from fires and earthquakes through the centuries and intense bombings during the Second World War, is a testament to its powers.

At the annual procession, barefoot devotees threw small towels at volunteers on the carriage, which was being pulled by ropes, to wipe parts of the cross and the statue in the belief that the Nazarene's powers cure ailments and ensure good health and a better life.

The act of walking without shoes is a “vow of sacrifice and thanksgiving to mimic Christ who carried the cross to Calvary barefoot”, explains Catholics and Cultures.
The website says that devotees – who chant and call out to the statue – believe that wiping it with a cloth, such as a towel or handkerchief, will “rub off” its "miraculous power" and healing abilities onto the material.

"I'm praying so I can walk again and be cured of depression," said Pochi Maximo, who clung to a wheeled walking device as she waited along a road with her daughter for the procession to pass.

The housewife, 58, said she has joined the religious gathering since childhood as part of a family tradition.

She was determined to attend Wednesday's procession despite debilitating knee and spine ailments that were diagnosed last year, along with diabetes, which drove her into the pits of depression.

A beaming Maximo told AP: "There is a saying in the church that if you look up front, in your back, to your left and right but can't find a solution to your problems, look up to heaven and you will see the solution."

Another devotee, Ryan de Vera, a 29-year-old former finance officer at a local bank, said he squeezed his way through the crowd to touch the hand of the Black Nazarene, which he credited for the recovery of his father from prostate cancer.

After performing the dangerous feat, he was pushed uncontrollably aside by the mass of humanity to a roadside, where his left foot sustained a deep wound caused by sharp metal debris.

Despite his injury, he limped back to the crowd – still barefoot and smiling, after getting treatment at a first-aid station.

Unsurprisingly, by midday more than 600 devotees had been treated by Red Cross volunteers for minor injuries, exhaustion and high blood pressure.

Today's spectacle in Manila reflects the unique brand of Catholicism, which includes folk superstitions, in Asia's largest Catholic nation.

Dozens of Filipinos have themselves nailed to crosses on Good Friday in another tradition to emulate Christ's suffering that draws huge crowds and tourists each year.

Police forces have been placed on full alert ahead of Wednesday's religious gathering amid military offensives against Muslim militants aligned with the Islamic State group who have been blamed for a spate of bombings and other attacks in the volatile south.

Last week, suspected Muslim militants remotely detonated a bomb that killed two people and wounded about 30 others near the entrance of a shopping mall in southern Cotabato city as people did last-minute shopping ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations.

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