CINA

본문

During the last week the S.K. bourgeois/reactionary media predicted a significantly decreasing of the current demonstrations - now ongoing since almost 50 days - against the KORUS FTA beef deal (or better said against the LMB gov't!!!), but the reality shows (possibly^^) a complete different picture:

Protests Continue Despite New Deal (Korea Herald, 6.22)
  
Civic groups and opposition parties have been continuing to call for renegotiating the U.S. beef import deal, rebuffing the latest measures between Seoul and Washington to ease Koreans' concerns over mad cow disease.
A coalition of about 1,700 civic groups organized nationwide 48-hour candlelight vigils over the weekend.

The area around Seoul City Hall, 6.21 in the early night 

Labeling the outcome of the additional negotiation as "deceptive," tens of thousands of demonstrators roamed down the streets in downtown Seoul on Saturday, urging the government to renegotiate with Washington to impose tougher quarantine measures.

They confronted riot police at the Sejongno intersection until today in the morning, attempting to march on the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae. Opposition parties also pressed for renegotiations on the deal, saying that the additional talks did not secure the health rights and complete quarantine sovereignty for the nation...

The overnight demonstrations, which organizers say were attended by as many as 60,000 people, turned "violent" in today's predawn hours, as protesters tied rope to one of the police buses in an attempt to break the barricade of buses and get through. They also built steps made of sand bags to walk over the buses.

 
The bus barricade was located just a kilometer away from the protest in the Gwanghwamun area to block them from marching on Cheong Wa Dae.

In return, the police used fire extinguishers to control the protest and a motor sprinkler also appeared on the protesting grounds, adding intensity to the demonstrations.

So far, a total of 17 protesters have been arrested for illegal acts, which include damaging the police's wall of buses, fighting with the police and disobeying police orders.

This was marked as the second-largest protest to come after the rallies commemorating the 1987 democracy movement on June 10, which were attended by about 80,000 people (oops~ the reality: at least 700,000!!).

Related (all contributions have a lot of impressive pictures):

☞ [6.21/22] VoP Report

☞ [6.21/22] Chamsesang Report

☞ [6.21/22] OhmyNews Report

☞ [6.21/22] Tong-il News Report

☞ [6.21] KCTU Report

☞ Video/newscham TV