CINA

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First of all: Yesterday's "General Strike", announced by KCTU after thousands of riot cops attacked its HQ on Dec. 22, took NOT place...

But nonetheless, from the early afternoon till late at night, about 50,000(100,000 according to KCTU/the cops "counted" 25,000...) workers and citizens gathered in front of Seoul's City Hall to protest against the clampdown/attacks on KCTU/KRWU, as well as moves toward privatization of the nation’s railway system(though the administration denies such claims) and the current government’s election manipulation scandal. [A good summary about yesterday's protests in S.K. you'll get here! More updated reports in English and Korean you can read on LabourStart. And finally here you can watch(MUST SEE!!) the complete KCTU rally in front of City Hall]

Some observers are calling the outbreak of protests - yesterday's rally also demanded the resignation of Park Geun-hye's administration - a proof that public anger has nearly “reached its boiling point”. KCTU already annonced the next "general strikes": 2014.1.9 and Jan. 16 (and these dates are ordinary workdays!!)...

Here some impressions from yesterday's events in front and around the City Hall:

13,000 riot cops were mobilized to prevent "any street protest/demonstration"...

As you can see, the cops failed to prevent "any" street protest...