The protest was held for 7 days on a major highway in Metro Manila, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), which eventually culminated in an attempt to storm the Malacañang Palace.
Taking place four months after the Second EDSA Revolution, the protests were considered as a more populist uprising in comparison to the previous demonstrations in the same location in January 2001.
Despite the ouster, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago expressed vehement support for Estrada and opposition to Arroyo's presidency throughout her reelection campaign in early 2001.
[9][10] Her speeches were marked by hyperbolic statements and inflammatory rhetoric: among others, she mentioned that if Estrada is arrested, she will jump off an airplane without a parachute in response, and there would be the possibility of civil war "in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao".
At 3:00 pm, court-appointed sheriff Ed Urieta, two thousand police officers, and troopers of the Philippine Marine Corps accompanied by PNP Chief Mendoza arrived at Estrada's home and served the warrant.
[15] The arresting team escorted Estrada and his son Jinggoy into a PNP-owned Toyota Coaster to take them both to a detention center at Camp Crame.
"[15] As a result, a crowd of an alleged 700,000 loyalists (although according to Eagle Broadcasting Corporation-owned broadcast network Net 25 and to Senator Tito Sotto, a high of over 3 million in the evening from April 25–30), most of whom were members of the urban poor and devotees of the Iglesia ni Cristo, which institutionally supported Estrada, gathered at the Roman Catholic EDSA Shrine, the site of the January EDSA II revolt that had toppled Estrada from the presidency.
Estrada's son, JV Ejercito, later apologized for the hostility of the protesters and requested the news organizations to cover the event, assuring the safety of their journalists.
[21] The protest was led by members of the political opposition of the time, most notably Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Vicente Sotto III, Gringo Honasan, Panfilo Lacson and Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
[22][23] On the night of April 30, the scene turned violent as riot police fired warning shots and tear gas on crowds of supporters of Estrada.
They then broke through a third police line, the last before a phalanx of heavily armed officers that waited at Mendiola, a key bridge entrance to the presidential palace.
The rebellion came to a head in the early morning of May 1, 2001, as most of the people left EDSA Shrine, specifically the Iglesia ni Cristo members, as an agreement between their leaders and the government occurred.
The government continued enforcing a "maximum tolerance" policy for the police and military in responding to the protesters,[33][34] with them dispersing the marchers with warning shots and tear gases.
[44] President Arroyo remarked in a statement that the alleged leaders of EDSA III only incited the demonstrators to storm Malacañang and were "hiding in fear" from the arrests.
[46] On July 3, 2001, the Department of Justice dropped charges against 147 pro-Estrada rallyists upon the orders of President Arroyo, with the protesters signing affidavits that stated "they had nothing to do with the siege and that they were merely used.
[48] On October 20, 2001, an arrest warrant was issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 27 against Ronald Lumbao, spokesman of the People's Movement Against Poverty (PMAP), due to charges of rebellion for his alleged role as leader in the attempted storming of Malacañang by rallyists on May 1.