Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Manila to reaffirm U.S.-Philippines military ties -- and was greeted by protesters who threw paint at her motorcade.

The paint-throwers were reportedly leftists who may oppose the U.S. military presence in the Philippines, as the websiteABS-CBN.com suggests. Sky News reports:

Dianne Marie Solmayor, spokeswoman of the Manila branch of the leftist youth group Anakbayan, told AFP her group was responsible for the incident.

She said 50 members hurled red, water-based paint bombs at Clinton's convoy and hurled their placards at the vehicles.

'We staged a lightning rally against the convoy while it emerged from the presidential palace,' she said by telephone.

'Some of the vehicles were hit with paint bombs and placards. It was unavoidable that some of them sustained damage. The rest turned around.'

Video credit: The Washington Post