2252개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
From yesterday's Hankyoreh:
Tenants forcibly evicted from Myeong-dong and Poi-dong
Forcible evictions remain ongoing under the Lee administration, as redevelopment projects continue to trump tenant rights
“I do not think these methods are right. Something unacceptable has happened.”
In a telephone interview Friday with the Hankyoreh, Bae Jae-hun, head of the tenant countermeasures committee for Zone 3 in Seoul's Myeong-dong neighborhood, said he had returned to the hospital that morning due to pain in his face and various areas of his body after being beaten by hired security personnel.
Bae, who has been holding a sit-in protest at Cafe Mari in the redevelopment area in Seoul’s Jung (Central) District demanding that measures be taken for relocation, was hospitalized Wednesday after attempting to fend off around one hundred hired security employees who came at him suddenly that morning. The employees dragged out tenants, along with university student and citizen sympathizers, and occupied the cafe before withdrawing Thursday night.
“There is clearly a law against this,” sighed Bae. “How are the security workers able to use these kinds of violent tactics?”
Friday morning saw a press conference in front of the cafe to denounce the rough tactics of the security workers(*). Around twenty people took part, including not only Myeong-dong tenants but also Cho Cheol-sun, head of the joint Poi-dong reconstruction village residence restoration countermeasures committee, as well as Korean Tutors’ and Education Laborers’ Union Secretary General Yu Deuk-gyu.
Residents of the Poi-dong reconstruction village, a Gangnam shanty town that was half destroyed in a fire, also clashed with around 50 hired security workers who had arrived at the village early Wednesday morning to tear it down. The Korean Tutors’ and Education Laborers’ Union, which had been holding a protest in the area of Seoul Plaza demanding that JEI reinstate fired workers and stop its union suppression efforts, saw its protest site forcibly demolished Monday by Jung-gu District Office and a security employee agency.
At the press conference, the participants said that tenants in Myeong-dong's Zone 3, Poi-dong residents, and education workers would continue fighting in spite of “attempts to keep us quiet with violence.”
“We denounce the contracted personnel’s violence that is being indiscriminately perpetrated, and the government that stands by and allows it to happen,” they added.
In response to this, an official with the Zone 3 developer said, “There was some clashing in the process of trying to uphold property rights, and the conflict crew because there were a lot of people from outside along with the tenants.”
The official added that the company plans to guarantee the tenants’ ability to protest until August 16, when a final trial is scheduled for the eviction suit.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/490676.html
* "security workers"(^^):
In fact organized gangsters, hired by the Daewoo Construction(MAFIA), aka the "Myeong-dong Zone 3 developer"
PS: Between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday evening the "security workers" (backed by the cops) injured at least 22 activists who are (still) resisting the so-called "redevelopment" project in Myeong-dong!!
Latest news: Comrades involved in the 'frontline struggle' told me few hours ago "Wir haben gewonnen. Mari wird uns widergehört. Das Kraft von twitter ist ganz machtvoll. Durch 2 tage solidaritieren viele Menschen. Aber einige Leute verletzen sich... Und unsere Instrumente sind zerbrochen..." -- i.e. the Myeong-dong Resistance Collective has been able - after two days of fierce fights with scores of organized gangsters(hired by Daewoo Construction MAFIA), finally backed by the police - to retake "Cafe Mari", the epicenter of the Myeong-dong anti-'redevelopment' resistance movement!!!
Here some impressions from last night (organized gangsters, hired by Daewoo Construction(MAFIA), their makeshift weapons and what they left over after their violent occupation of "Cafe Mari"...):
PS: Until last night at least 12 activists (supporting the anti-'redevelopment' struggle in Myeong-dong) were injured during clashes with the gangsters hired by Daewoo Construction MAFIA!!
Since y'day afternoon Daewoo's construction MAFIA is escalating the situation in Myeong-dong's "redevelopment" area by sending up to 200 organized thugs/gangsters to terrorize the Myeong-dong Resistance Collective and all of their supporters.
Activists related to the resistance in Myeong-dong published the following outcry in the late afternoon:
3rd of August, 2011
Myung_dong_Cafe Mari, City Center of Seoul.
Gangsters beat tenants 4:30 am -till now
11 Poor tenants were evicted by Daewoo Cooperations and IBK(Industrial Bank of Korea) on2nd of April.
Those big cooperations are planning 'Financial Street' on that area.
Since 4th of June, the tenants have been squatting a place called cafe Mari( a cafe owned by one of the tenants)
Many students and citizens and artists are banded together with the tenants.
Since 4th of June gangsters tried to beat people or destroyed the building but it wasn't easy because many people back up for the tenants.
But today IBK and Daewoo hired 200 gangsters to beat people.
They destroyed Mari cafe and sitting in the cafe since 4:30 am.
We reported to police but they didn't come.
This is a reality of South Korea.
And today in the early morning an eyewitness of the GANG TERROR noticed the following: "It's 7 am and I just got back from Mari in Myeongdong. Insane. Around 50 young hired gangsters going through and hitting protestors: women, the elderly, college students, whoever. One of them kicked a pregnant woman in the stomach tonight."
A lot of more pics, witnessing the GANG TERROR in Myeong-dong, organized by the DAEWOO construction MAFIA you can see here!
Related (Korean) reports:
☞ 소화기 뿌리며 각목 휘둘러…여성 2명 ‘호흡곤란’ (Hankyoreh, 8.04)
☞ "다 부쉈다. 새벽에 들이닥쳐 사람을 짐짝처럼 끌어냈다" (Pressian, 8.03)
☞ 명동3구역, 위험천만 재개발 철거 계속 (OMN, 8.03)
☞ 명동 3구역 기습 철거, 용역 철거민에게 폭력 행사 (VoP, 8.03)
Under the heading "Estimated 15,000 turn out for third Hope Bus Campaign" yesterday's Hankyoreh reported that "Police initiated a blockade on bridges and sidewalks and allowed conservative activists to attack and detain city busses carrying participants"...
Yesterday's Kyunghyang Shinmun reported likewise that "Some 300 members of far-right groups caused disturbance by occupying the Yeongdo Bridge. They pulled passengers off the buses and assaulted them. They swore at them, saying the 'forces trying to overthrow the nation should be arrested under current law' and 'the commies must be knocked down'..."
And some kind of evidence, published in Sunday's Nodong-ui Sori you'll find out (MUST SEE!!) here!!
The 3rd "Bus of Hope" campaign: From y'day evening until today's early afternoon once again - despite the previous massive media-hyped counter-attacks/agitation - about 10,000 activists(according to intependend sources) from all over S. Korea gathered in Busan to support Kim Jin-suk's struggle against HHIC...
Today's (bourgeois) Korea Times reported the following about it:
'Hope Bus' rally ends without major clash
The third round of the “Hope Bus” campaign in Busan by progressive civic and labor groups opposing massive layoffs by Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) ended Sunday morning without a major clash with the riot police.
According to the police, about 3,500 protesters from all over the country started gathering in the nation’s largest port city, Saturday to protest against the redundancies.
During the rally, participants expressed their opposition to the layoffs and support for female labor activist Kim Jin-suk, who has held a sit-in at the 35-meter-high point of a giant crane at the company’s shipyard.
Protesters have previously violently clashed with police, after they traveled to the shipyard in 185 buses and other vehicles in what they called Hope Bus campaign.
But participants in the third round rallied peacefully and continued in the form of an overnight cultural event. They dispersed voluntarily on Sunday morning.
Considering a deepening ideological division over the campaign, participants refrained from escalating it into a violent rally. They moved to Yeongdo, where the shipyard is located, by public transportation, instead of illegally occupying roads and marching together. They did not attempt to enter the shipyard.
Instead, they broke into small groups to enjoy a concert of independent bands, sang songs together and held a free speech event, participants said...
But there were minor clashes between protesters and an alliance consisting of conservative civic groups, employers’ groups and merchants in Busan who opposed the campaign.
About 300 alliance members blocked the Yeongdo Bridge to prevent the Hope Bus campaigners from entering Yeongdo. Some protestors and members of the alliance suffered minor injuries.
Even before the campaign, the alliance had denounced the rally, arguing busloads of protesters hurt the local economy and cause inconveniences to Busan residents. It also claimed that their protests make it more difficult to settle the seven-month dispute between the labor union and the management of HHIC.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/07/113_91951.html
Related, but more detailed reports (incl. many pics/videos) you'll get here:
☞ '평화'로 꽃피운 3차 희망버스, 1박2일의 아름다운 '휴가'
☞ 김진숙 "매일 유서 쓰는 심정으로 버틴다"
☞ 희망버스, 김진숙과 조우...3차 희망버스 본행사 열려
☞ ‘3차 희망버스’ 거리행진 자제…보수단체는 도로점거 훼방
Two days ago the (bourgeois) Korea Times published the following feature, regarding the planned so-called "redevelopment" project in Myeong-dong (downtown Seoul):
A Tibetan activist is preparing to protest against a development company in Myeong-dong, central Seoul after being told to vacate his popular family-run restaurant.
D.P. Lama, better known locally as “Minsu,” said he and other tenants in the area would protest if the Myeong-dong Special Development Company attempts to evict them by force.
Their protests would coincide with ongoing actions waged by already-evicted tenants and activists in the redevelopment zone. It is also the latest chapter in an ongoing, sometimes volatile debate over tenants’ rights.
“I can’t stop the builders,” Minsu said. “What I am talking about is this system that basically leaves people to die. It needs to be changed to give tenants some rights.”
Any protest by the well-known human rights activist is likely to draw keen attention given the popularity of his Potala restaurant, a bastion for Tibetan culture here.
The controversy began in April, when tenants north of Myeong-dong Cathedral ― mostly small businesses ― were told to evacuate by May.
Activists said the development company negotiated directly with landlords, leaving the store owners with no recourse. Some tenants have been compensated to leave, they said.
The area has been divided into several zones, three of which are currently or anticipated to be sites of protests.
The developers moved first into Zone 3, serving a final notice before hired hands blocked the tenants from entering and in some cases removing furniture. Potala is located in Zone 2.
Out of some 40 stores in Zone 3, 11 began to get organized, setting up a small base on the street after altercations with the hired hands.
Spurred by the recent success of a similar campaign, the tenants began squatting in one of the evacuated businesses. Students now squat there around the clock and are demanding better compensation for the businesses.
In June, a small noodle shop in Western Seoul called Duriban won compensation from a construction company after its campaign won support from thousands of citizens.
Protests urging strengthened measures to protect tenants and denouncing the use of intimidation are not new to Korea.
In 2009, five tenants and one policeman were killed in Yongsan, central Seoul, during a violent clash when authorities tried to forcibly evict them from a building which was set to be demolished due to redevelopment plans.
A personal battle
Minsu said his business has yet to be seriously affected, but that the development company could move in sometime next month. He stands to take a big loss if evicted.
“I’ve been here for three years and, until now, have struggled to make the business successful,” he said. “I was just beginning to pay back loans when the notice from the developers came.”
But for the Tibetan and his wife, a Korean who co-runs the restaurant, the struggle goes beyond the financial. In 1986, his father-in-law was fired for trying to unionize his workplace in Busan, forced to take up street vending. But authorities harassed him as part of a crackdown on street hawkers, Minsu said.
The vendor committed suicide in 1989 to protest the system of crackdowns and intimidation, after writing a letter to President Roh Tae-woo calling for change.
Decades later, he won compensation from the government for contributing to the cause of democracy. But Minsu said his struggle continues.
“It’s been 25 years and still the system hasn’t changed. Now his daughter is in the same position,” he said.
It is also putting a risk at the restaurant that has become a resource for those seeking information on Tibetan human rights issues, a cause Minsu has fought for since arriving here.
The activist warned people not to take the tenants lightly.
“This is not only about my restaurant. This is a problem for all of Korea,” he said. “It’s time for the country to start developing its system for poor people. Otherwise, next time, it could be you.”
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2011/07/139_91687.html
Coming Saturday the 3rd 'Hope Bus' Protest Tour to the Hanjin shipyard (in Busan) will start from almost all cities across S. Korea...
The following cartoon, related to the issue, was published in yesterday's Kyunghyang Shinmun:
The Korean text says: "Kiryung, SsangYong, Yooseong, Hanjin... The sweat of 'irregular' workers, the tears of workers dismissed and people's hope accumulated in a 200-day long sultry heat finally leads to 'blossoms of salt tree' at (Busan's Hanjin) Yeong-do shipyard"
Related article:
☞ South Korean woman spends 200th day in crane-top protest (BBC, 7.25)
More related (updated) news can check out on LabourStart
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