The violent anti-US beef protests that have been paralyzing downtown Seoul continued on Thursday night, June 27th. The usual anti-US groups that have largely been abandoned by mainstream Korean society, continued to destroy property and assault Korean riot policemen.
Courtesy of another reader tip I have pictures of the June 27th protests. The number of protesters appears to be the usual 5,000-6,000 people that compose the anti-US groups that have been left protesting ever since most of the Korean public abandoned the movement when Korean President Lee Myung-bak implemented new US beef import regulations that seems to have largely addressed public fears of being killed by US beef:
As usual these anti-US protesters were assaulting the young Korean conscripts that compose the country’s riot police:
It just continues to piss me off how Korean society allows this people to bash in and assault young men that are conducting their mandatory service to the nation for about $40 a month. When I look at these young guys I think of the KATUSA soldiers I once led and how I would never allow people to treat them like these riot police are treated. No young men should be should be subject to this and is a national disgrace.
The protesters much like the night before, tried to move the buses blocking the path to the Korean Blue House by using ropes. Notice how one of the protesters has a police shield. I doubt the policemen handed it to him, which probably means he assaulted a policemen to get it:
In a new tactic the protesters even used sandbags stolen from a construction site to make an artificial hill to go over the buses with:
Looking at the age of the protesters in this picture, there is a high likelihood these are probably Hanchongnyun members:
I will give these people credit for teamwork that’s for sure:
The police tried to fight against the protesters by using what appears to be pepper spray:
It appears the spray had little effect as the mass of protesters kept pushing forward against the riot police:
As the protesters kept pushing forward they began to throw bottles filled with urine at the riot police:
Should anyone forced to do mandatory service for their nation be subjected to having urine thrown at them? What a disgrace.
It also makes me wonder what this guy with the water gun is shooting at the police? Is it water or urine?:
Once on top of the bus the protesters held up a banner saying Korean President Lee Myung-bak is fighting against the citizens of Korea:
And finally of course there were more injuries due to the violent protesters:
In response to this violence Korean President Lee Myung-bak has announced he is going to arrest the protest leaders and put die in the water cannons:
Police are getting tougher with protesters against U.S. beef imports.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Friday it will seek arrest warrants for eight protesters on charges of masterminding illegal demonstrations.
It is the first time that the police is seeking arrest warrants for leaders of the candlelight protests against U.S. beef imports.
The police also announced it will fire water cannons with colored water at violent protesters to make it easier to arrest them. [KBS Global]
I doubt this will do much, what the Korean authorities need to do is arrest people who assault policemen and destroy property. The people that assault policemen should be fined and jailed. It is a disgrace that these people are allowed to assault these conscripted riot police the way they are. The people destroying property should be arrested and then instead of sending them to jail, fine them the cost of the damage to property. If these people start getting hit in the pocketbooks I think the violence in these protests will drop dramatically.
I will update June 28th night time violence to see if Lee Myung-bak’s new measures had any effect as soon as information is available.
Popularity: 4%
1:53 pm on June 28th, 2008 1
Well, we all know that the reason is because of the past history of heavy handedness by the police and military dictatorships- Kwangju 1980 being the biggest example. However, to just allow this wanton lawlessness and violence against the state and young conscripts is beyond ridiculous!
I’m all for freedom of speech and expression, but this gone way, way beyond those bounds. Sometimes, I really do feel that Korea needs an authoritarian figure like Park Chung Hee. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. He knew how to get sh*t done and not take any crap for it.
Sadly, because of this legacy- along with Chun & Roh- the government has had it’s balls removed when it comes to dealing with violent chaos like this.
This so makes me think of the first year, maybe the 2nd, of Kim Dae Jung’s presidency when they proudly declared the “year of no tear gas”, meaning it was the first year that the police had not had to use tear gas in the streets. They treated it like some great accomplishment that the streets had suddenly become peaceful. It was all PR bullsh*t.
By that spring, the riots were just as violent, but Kim had ordered the police to not use tear gas to break them up because it would expose the lie.
Since then, the riot police just stand there while they are beaten, pelted, and abused. I have no idea why those guys don’t go on strike!
It’s like telling an abused wife to just keep on taking it!
end of rant.
2:00 pm on June 28th, 2008 2
“Once on top of the bus the protesters held up a banner saying Korean President Lee Myung-bak is fighting against the citizens of Korea”
The irony is crushing!
2:34 pm on June 28th, 2008 3
Friday’s (27 Jun) protests ran into the early morning hours of Saturday (28 Jun). It was a boring, boring show.
The main point is that none of the key activist groups — as shown by the absence of their flags — showed up. The KCTU, Hanchongryeon, KTEW and all the other well-known brick throwers were not there. Though there were 20s-30s folks in the audience, the bulk of the folks were in their 30s-40s. I suspect that because of the intense debate on the internet whether to turn the protests violent versus keep it as a peaceful candlelight vigil, the moderates showed up to press their point. THIS WAS NOT GOING TO BE A VIOLENT EVENING…
The police showed their new strategy for future protests on Seojong-ro. They formed a line down by the Koreana Hotel blocking the street while the main forces were up at the bus barricades. If they do have to turn on the water cannons with dye, the line at the Koreana or below will catch any of the dye-stained protestors that are trying to escape.
The UDP made a show and then proceeded to give speeches to keep the entertainment going. However, their credibility was shot after the incident from the previous night when UDP legislator Representative Ahn Min-seok said he was assaulted by the police while “protecting the people,” although he had identified himself as a lawmaker. Ahn’s punching a police corporal first was captured by the video record of Joins TV. The footage was posted on the JoongAng Ilbo’s Internet site. However, the progressive media conveniently wants to forget about the incriminating footage.
BORING…ZZZZZZZ The protest died of boredom.
However, you’re right to keep an eye on the night of the 28th of June. The activist planners may be regrouping for another violent episode.
Watch for their two-prong attack strategy to split the riot police forces (ie, 26 Jun: Koreana Hotel and main barricade). These protests are NOT spontaneous. They are planned and executed in the past with the Hanchongryeon “storm troopers/peace marshalls” acting as coordinators, while the Hanchongryeon “shock troops” with their red bandanas, medical masks, white raincoats were right behind them.
Also watch out for the activists working outside the box. They may split their attacks to two distant locations (ie, Yoido GNP Headquarters or KBS/MBC sites and the Seojong-ro bus barricades).
They are also faced with waning support from the populace because of recent photos/videos of the violence. This is the fourth day of the activists’ National Action Week so it ain’t over yet. Like I said many times before, this a life-and-death struggle for the progressive movement (political and economic). This is an all-or-nothing struggle.
2:40 pm on June 28th, 2008 4
Your post is so full of errors I don’t even know where to begin, except to say that if you are not going to these protests yourself, you should be much, much, much more careful about the kinds of statements you make and passing them them off as fact when often they are merely opinion if not outright wrong.
I have personally seen the police throw bottles of urine at protesters, not vice versa as you claim. On Thursday night I was standing there peacefully talking to someone in front of Kyobo when I was pelted in the back of the head by a policeman on top of a bus with a bag of kimchi. At other times, the police have thrown small rocks and dirt at me, despite the fact that I am merely observing the protests and not actively participating. The shields you mentioned were largely taken from a bus that had been broken into by protesters, not by assualting police officers. A few nutters attack the police but most of the protesters including the yebigun actually protect the police and lead them to safety if some policemen get taken off the line druing skirmishes. And your repeated insistance that these protests are “anti-American” again indicates to me that you are just as guilty of disseminating distorted propaganda as these protesters and their media supporters often are. I do not agree with some of the protesters’ tactics such as attacking media outlets and conservative reporters, and attacking the police excessively is not cool either, but if you want to take the moral high ground here, I would suggest that you actually know what you’re talking about first rather than simply muddying the waters even further here.
5:20 pm on June 28th, 2008 5
I can’t tell if King Baeksu is trying to be sarcastic or not, especially with statements like this -
“I was pelted in the back of the head by a policeman on top of a bus with a bag of kimchi.”
WTF? I read korean newspapers and expat blogs, but this is the first time I’ve heard of something like this.
6:21 pm on June 28th, 2008 6
The kimchi thing happened and I still have stains on the back of my shirt to prove it (I was pissed because I had just had it dry-cleaned and was planning to keep clear of the water cannons that night). As for alleged anti-US sentiment at the demos, things are so bad for a Yank like me that right after it happened, a nearby demonstrator in his 40s was kind enough to provide me a clean wet white hand-towel to wipe off the back of my head.
On two other occaisions, I was merely taking pictures of demontrators near the buses when police inside the buses hit me in the head with a fire extinguisher at extremely close range. My digital camera is now broken because the dust won’t allow the lens to close/open. I’m not complaining, just stating that the police have been getting their own licks in, too, especially when they think there are no media cameras around and they don’t have to worry about “bad PR.”
7:06 pm on June 28th, 2008 7
“On two other occaisions, I was merely taking pictures of demontrators near the buses when police inside the buses hit me in the head with a fire extinguisher at extremely close range.”
“I was pelted in the back of the head by a policeman on top of a bus with a bag of kimchi.”
Sounds like the police were anti-American. But as an American you must have friends that are 4 star generals that you can call and who will solve the problem. Just call them.
8:27 pm on June 28th, 2008 8
Shattered, I haven’t spoken with the police at the demos so they don’t know my nationality. I have, however, told hundreds of demonstrators that I am American when asked, and it hasn’t been a problem. Many shake my hand or say cheeky things like, “Welcome to Dyanmic Korea!”
8:44 pm on June 28th, 2008 9
As usual, Shattered is being stupid. I really do hope someone go up and shatter his teeth. Americans think that everything revolves around them.
9:16 pm on June 28th, 2008 10
I dont know if you all have noticed but Korean advertisers are cashing in on the protest. I seen these commercials showing the police and rioters sharing a coffee or a drink….or the rioters and police stopping for a moment to take a group picture
I dont see any of this going on but it only glorifies the protests and makes it ok to spend your day violating the police because they are all in the end brothers and sisters and will share a drink at the end of the day.
Also the daily attack on the blue house> What would happen if the white house was attacked like this….alot of gun fire and severe beatings…There is nothing legitimate about these attack…almost like they the protesters are going by some sort of play book. I see it in every news cast…the groups…the parade…some candles….a couple of speeches…pushing the police shields then everyone gets together for a meal afterward.
These people suck
9:19 pm on June 28th, 2008 11
Lets see
Anti-American comments-Check
Illogical-Check
Angry-Check
No real point-Check
Tom are you Korean? You are right?
9:19 pm on June 28th, 2008 12
King would an American describe anything as CHEEKY? I am certain you told them you were Canadian
9:21 pm on June 28th, 2008 13
So Shattered you where hit in the head with a fire extinguisher> Hummmm must of been a plastic fire extinguisher or someone here is lying
9:26 pm on June 28th, 2008 14
kingkitty you are cheeky monkey.
9:28 pm on June 28th, 2008 15
King do you really think its smart to hang around protests if the police has resorted to throwing their food at you…you obvously have no ideal how much an average bag of Kimchi cost these days…You expect us to believe a guy earning 40 bucks a month will toss a 6 dollar bag of Kimchi at you>
And you still havent washed your shirt?
Who this whole comment section seems to be a competition of who can tell the most outlandish lie possible….I have to say Shattered was in the lead with the fire extinguisher story but well the Kimchie tossers are a far better lie
9:31 pm on June 28th, 2008 16
So the Kingkitty is a cheeky monkey because I didnt make up a riot story and post in on this site
Interesting
9:36 pm on June 28th, 2008 17
Hey I have an Ideal….for now on the only ones who can post on site riot stories are people who are actually in Korea….then we can avoid such silly stories
10:13 pm on June 28th, 2008 18
“I have to say Shattered was in the lead with the fire extinguisher story”
KingKitty, you are such a cheeky monkey. Do you know why people use ” ” ? They are called quotation marks.
“So the Kingkitty is a cheeky monkey because I didnt make up a riot story and post in on this site”
No “the” kingkitty is a cheeky monkey because “the” Kingkitty takes it up the cheeky by a monkey. You cheeky monkey
12:34 am on June 29th, 2008 19
My wife was watching an old video tape she had made of a Korean TV she liked because of the main actor. He was a comedy actor and then rapper and whatever….
I asked her what he was going these days, and she said he was fulfilling his military service term, and that got me to thinking…
….I’d love to see an American-style reality TV show from Korea —- where one of these famous pop stars….fulfilled their military service by opting to join the riot police rather than regular military.
You can make that choice.
I think it would be fascinating to have an up close and personal view of how the riot policemen are trained and equipped — then how they are briefed and prepare for specific tactical situations related to specific protests….
….and then see them do their duty on the frontlines of the major protests.
I think the exposure such a TV series would give would help the riot police — at a time, over the past few years, when the plight of riot policemen have come into the public consciousness through the media particularly the complaints of parents of riot policemen and a few infamous cases of violence.
Even if you couldn’t get a young pop star to opt for riot duty….
…I seriously think the Korean government should think about doing something like attaching small, pen sized digital cameras to the helmets of randomly placed riot policement —– the kind of cameras baseball in the US has attached at times to the helmets of catchers or the NFL has to different players. Cameras and mikes…
For a good number of years now, the anti-US and anti-government groups have used video as a primary means to recruit people to their message.
The Korean government could help itself out, in help create more law and order, if it would fight fire with fire: put the cameras and mikes out in locations that aren’t easy to spot…..camera up a few dozen riot policemen serving at different points — and then air the video letting people see how these protests work.
Of course, some observers are going to focus on the violence the police use in response to the protests….
…..if you’ve watched the videos at the anti-US cites over the years, you might have wondered how in the hell Koreans watching those could be recruited into supporting those websites and civic groups — because the violence is clearly the tactic of the protesters….but even Korean viewers do manage to twist reality and find moral outrage to direct at the police instead of the protesters…
but….the up close and hidden cameras like I described above would provide a different viewpoint, and I think it would benefit the riot policemen and the government.
And if Korean society did react to such footage by further withdrawing sympathy from the protest groups…
…you would see a reduction in the amount of violence.
4:09 am on June 29th, 2008 20
Interesting non-response to my charges that facts are being distorted on this blog. Guess that shows how committed you are to getting the story straight.
In case you wondering, tonight (Sat. June 28-29th) I saw several riot police hit unarmed protesters with their truncheons and clubs.
At the very least, please tone down the “anti-US” theme when covering these demos. I made a point of asking a very articulate Korean guy tonight at the protests, “Is there any anti-US sentiment here in your opinion?” and he replied, “Well, I’ve been here for the last 4 hours, and during that time, I haven’t seen any anti-US signs or heard any anti-US slogans.”
Dude, this movement is class-war against Lee and the oligarchs, OK? Get over your US-centric viewpoint and try looking at the world from alternative perspectives.
4:15 am on June 29th, 2008 21
Allow me to clarify my poor wording in an earlier post. I was hit in the head by the fire repellent inside the fire extinguisher, not by the fire extinguishers themselves. It would seem to be obvious to anyone following the protests that the police are not hitting people with the actual fire extinguishers, but rather with their contents, but I can see how that may not have been clear to outside observers.
4:19 am on June 29th, 2008 22
Kingkity is so cheekhy monkey. CHEEKY MONKEY CHEEKY MONEKY !! OH LOL
” I made a point of asking a very articulate Korean guy tonight at the protests, “Is there any anti-US sentiment here in your opinion?” and he replied, “Well, I’ve been here for the last 4 hours, and during that time, I haven’t seen any anti-US signs or heard any anti-US slogans.”
I guess the debate is over. Everyone will agree now.
6:45 am on June 29th, 2008 23
King Baeksu
The Korean police are probably guilty of excessive force, although that’s somewhat understandable considering the aggressive tactics employed by Korean protesters.
But I don’t buy your argument that these protests aren’t influenced by anti US sentiments. Just look at the recent backlash against vershbow for his “higher standard of English for Koreans” comment. Even Korean newspapers admit that anti American movements is the underlying drive behind these protests.
Not to belittle your experience with police brutality, but your single anecdotal evdience can’t trump other articles, images, and other eye witness accounts that expose these protests for what it really is. I’ve already read about a korean American who was cussed out by the protesters when he confronted them. There’s a video of half a dozen protesters ganging up on a cornered male conscript. And there is a CLEAR and long precedent of anti american activities and thoughts rocking ROK into a frenzy of protests, espeically after 2002. NO, I haven’t been there
7:45 am on June 29th, 2008 24
I believe you King…if you say you were attacked by a fire extinguisher then you were…we all believe you
Shattered I think you are just a bit obsessed with the whole monkey thing…Try getting a date some time
8:24 am on June 29th, 2008 25
King Baeksu the fact I did not reply doesn’t mean I’m ignoring you, it means I got a life other then monitoring this blog or hanging out with the idiots pictured like you are doing, that are beating the crap out of 20 year old conscripts making next to nothing and just trying to serve their country.
I clearly said the images come from a reader tip that was emailed to me. The tip had details about the protests from a respected source. So take it for what it worth. If you want to defend these thugs then go ahead but other people were at the protests as well that saw different things then what you did:
http://koreabeat.com/?p=1186
Also these groups are anti-US and I’m going to continue to describe these groups as anti-US because that is what they are. I have long chronicled on this blog the anti-US agendas of groups like Hanchongnyun, Green Korea, KCTU, PSPD, etc.
This is not a class warfare movement. This is an attempt by the anti-US leftist groups to politically neuter 2MB because he put a stop to their leftist agenda by winning the election. They are trying to do through misinformation, smears, violence, and intimidation what they couldn’t do in the ballot box. So far it has been extremely effective.
8:52 am on June 29th, 2008 26
King Baeksu,
I would have responded to you if your points were worth responding to.
Calls of police brutality are the stuff of Hanchongryon.
They aren’t believed not only by expats in the K-blogsphere - average South Koreans know it is crap as well.
If you believe it, fine.
You clearly do.
But it is so glaringly contradicted by the ample evidence from protest videos — videos edited and uploaded by the hangchongryon-friendly sites themselves —
—- it makes getting into a debate with you about it useless.
You can talk all this, “I was there… I’m on the ground, not you….” all you want.
Only a casual reader unfamiliar with Korean society - and Korean protest culture - will buy it.
8:57 am on June 29th, 2008 27
In relation to Kim Baeksu’s claims of eye-witnessing and police brutality - and protester innocence — I have cut-n-pasted a brief review I did of the 2005 MacAuthor Statue protest in Inchon:
link to the video edit:
http://www.usinkorea.org/videos/new/inchon_news_911.wmv
New and Old Korean Media Do 9/11 Inchon MacArthur Protest
Ohmy(gosh)news is a popular post-modern age “media” outlet.
The Ohmy(gosh)news piece N-E-V-E-R shows the radical students wielding their large bamboo weapons at all. The only people shown as violent are the riot police and the conservative veterans group which is depicted as being the aggressive, violent group —- while the students are seen taking a beating, the injured, and just trying to have a peaceful protest.
I then add in its original sequence an MBC news item on the same protest, then some images from different websites about the protest, and then the full SBS news coverage of the protest with no added music, scenes, or effects by me.
10:15 am on June 29th, 2008 28
And what were the protesters doing, just standing there chanting slogans or were they maybe charging a line of police?
And what were the demonstrators doing? If you’re going to put yourself in the middle of the action to take photos, expect some action yourself. I got teargassed so badly I couldn’t open my eyes for fifteen minutes after I snapped a picture while a riot policeman was firing a shot overhead of a large group of protesters blocking the street. No waegook pass for you or me.
Well, that sounds non-violent.
12:28 pm on June 29th, 2008 29
Songi I think you did a good job pointing out the ludicris claims by King B
But You are wasting your time…only King B and Shattered truly believe they where at these protests. The rest of us know better and I believe if King and ShaT took their medication today they too wouldn’t believe what they wrote
12:38 pm on June 29th, 2008 30
[...] The protests against the importation of US beef into Korea (that really has nothing to do with US beef) broke out once again in downtown Seoul. The conflict began yesterday when the Korean police gave a deadline to the protests groups to remove their tents that were illegally occupying the front lawn of City Hall. The protesters refused and the police moved in an forcibly removed the tents: [...]
1:47 pm on June 29th, 2008 31
“Shattered truly believe they where at these protests.”
I never said I was there KingKittylitter. Learn to read you cheeky monkey.
3:08 pm on June 29th, 2008 32
The first mistake that a lot of people are making here is lumping these protests in with previous protests here on the Peninsula, such as the tank incident of 2002 and ensuing reaction and protests. Do you lump in all protests in the US with each other? I was arrested protesting the first Gulf War in 1991 in SF. Does that make me “anti-Iraq” or “anti-US,” and if I turned up at another protest 6 years later protesting imports of UK beef, would that also make me anti-Iraq (or anti-US)? It’s frankly racist the way people are lumping up groups here and painting them a single way. It’s called Orientalism, in fact.
There are 1,700 civic groups involved here. They all have different agendas. Some might me anti-US military in Korea but so is Robert Koehler, so does that make him “anti-US,” too? In any case, I have yet to hear any talk about the US military presence in Korea at these protests. It’s a non-issue. Vershbow made a stupid comment that as a diplomat revealed his lack of qualification (”speaking in a condescedning way to the natives”); the reaction against him was anti-Vershbow, not anti-US.
I know one of the major organziers of this movement and these protests. He’s a young guy in his early 30s who speaks excellent English and is always very cool to me. On June 25th, which was the start of the Korean War, some drunk ajosshi started trying to break some large pictures of the Korean War that were on display near Ch’onggyech’on and that had been set up by pro-US gruops here (verterans, I think) in order to thank the US for all it’s done for Korea. As I was talking to this organizer, he saw the ajosshi start kicking the pictures, and within seconds he ran over, body tackled the ajosshi violently and dragged him away in a firm bear hug and lecuring him all the while about what an idiot he was. And this was the action of one of the main organizers, remember. Does he sound anti-American to you?
Sonagi, one unarmed protester I saw had climbed up on a police bus in front of the Seoul Finance Center last night. Why? Because the the police were firing at the crowd with super high-pressure water cannons and he was trying to stop it. So he was surrounded by 6 or 7 riot police and as they were holding him, another policeman came up from the side and took a giant swing at the protesters with his long club. The protester was some skinny college kid and I don’t understand why half a dozen policemen were unable to subdue him.
You can argue that pulling away police buses is “violent,” but the protesters’ would counter that the police are blocking the roadway and they merely want to protest in front of Chongwadae to make their point to Lee. If the police had allowed them to do this two months ago, the protests would never have escalated the way they have. I mean, aren’t there protests in front of the White House all the time?
Anyway, I’m merely trying to describe accurately what I’ve seen at these protests. Saying, “Maybe this” or “Maybe that” (such as maybe the protester got the shield by assualting a riot policeman) is your right, I suppose, but expect to be corrected when you’re wrong.
All pictures have context. Without understanding the context, it’s possible to interpret them any way you can if you want to, but it’s not very responsible in my opinion.
3:49 pm on June 29th, 2008 33
[...] as though they are just punching bags for the protesters. They’re very young men. ROKdrop details what has been happening at the protests most recently, with lots of pictures. Use of more force by the police has been approved, and President Lee is [...]
5:41 pm on June 29th, 2008 34
Once again I will explain that the pictures I received came from a respected source with captions. Take for what it is worth just like people will take what you say for what it is worth and make their own opinions.
If it makes you feel any better I went straight to the anti-US leftist sites myself today for the updated posting I put up.
I know one thing is for sure these so called peaceful protester did not receive their police equipment through peaceful means.
As far as why I call them anti-US leftist groups is because that is what they are. What leftist group in Korea isn’t anti-US or fall under a larger anti-US umbrella group? You are not going to convince me that Hanchongryun, the teachers union, KCTU, etc. are all out protesting because they are concerned about food safety for the average Korean.
I’ll keep saying it and you will keep denying it that this is not a class warfare movement. This is an attempt by the anti-US leftist groups to politically neuter 2MB because he put a stop to their leftist agenda by winning the election. They are trying to do through misinformation, smears, violence, and intimidation what they couldn’t do in the ballot box.
5:49 pm on June 29th, 2008 35
“This is an attempt by the anti-US leftist groups to politically neuter 2MB because he put a stop to their leftist agenda by winning the election.”
Well, I can largely agree with that statement (except for the anti-US part, of course). But the reason they are opposed to the Lee regime is because they are well aware that he serves the interests of the wealthy elite and does not really care about the remaining 90% of the population here.
If that is not class warfare, then what is it in your opinion?
6:13 pm on June 29th, 2008 36
By the way, about a minute into this YTN video, you can see the protester on the bus I mentioned above getting clobbered twice on the head by the police:
http://tvnews.media.daum.net/list/view.html?cateid=100000&newsid=20080629133905234&cp=ytni
12:27 am on July 1st, 2008 37
7:59 am on July 1st, 2008 38
And why were the police firing at the crowd with water cannons? Were they in the middle of a street? Were they trying to attack a bus?
I think most long-term residents of Korea would agree that there is inappropriate violence on both sides and that Korean military conscripts are a poor choice for crowd control. On an episode of Cops I watched last night, I saw a short, chubby Fort Worth policewoman take down a taller, leaner young man who tried to run away and resisted arrest. It’s all in the techniques. She knew exactly how to subdue him quickly and get him cuffed.
There isn’t much space immediately in front of the White House, but there is a lawn across the street. I’ve seen small pickets, but I’ve never seen or heard of tens of thousands of people protesting on that sidewalk or opposite lawn. Given the emotions and the strong possibility of violence, the police are correct to keep a large group of protesters away from the Blue House. Even if the protesters feel they have the right to march to the Blue House, that does not justify destroying public property. The very fact that they did so demonstrates that the police are exercising good judgment in confining their demonstrations.
Back here in the States, it is interesting to see how these protests are being covered by the Big Three networks. The images I am seeing are of violent clashes as protesters charge a police line and protesters standing on and rummaging around inside police buses.
5:22 pm on July 1st, 2008 39
They live in an impersonal, crowded, competitive world, (Seoul), where the individual matters little, and the beef is simply a catalyst for venting the general rage,
“I,m mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore.”
Credible surveys show 60 % are dissatisfied with their lives, that they work basically as a means to get money, which I believe is reflected in this sense of the little guy against the imposimg giant.
Many of them are University age people, who for the first time in their lives, are allowed to expess this frustration with the society that has controlled almost every aspect of their lives, and now it’s time to let all hell break loose.
If it wasn’t beef or the FTA, them some other excuse would serve as a flash point.
This won’t be the end of it.
8:23 pm on July 3rd, 2008 40
[...] thugs say they “want to live long and healthy” but they will violently assault a column of riot police and set fire to buses which is more hazardous to their health then US beef. Don’t be fooled [...]
1:37 am on July 21st, 2008 41
[...] and vandalized police vehicles. No where does she mention the unprovoked assaults on policemen, throwing objects at the police to include bottles of urine, shooting acid at them with water guns, the destruction of property, [...]
4:08 pm on July 30th, 2008 42
2:10 pm on August 14th, 2008 43
[...] and some tents so it appears that quite a show will be put on tomorrow. Hopefully some of the usual suspects don’t show up to ruin [...]
10:30 pm on October 15th, 2008 44
[...] Korean President Lee Myung-bak must be kicking himself because all the crap he took over the mad cow nonsense in South Korea in order to get an FTA with the US advanced. Everything Lee went through is probably going to all [...]
10:00 pm on November 2nd, 2008 45
[...] does anyone think we will see violent anti-Canadian protests that will swamp the streets of Seoul for months because of a possible beef agreement between the two [...]