2258개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
"Redevelopment" Without Resistance: Mass Eviction!
First of all: Y'day in the morning - once again - seven activists who are resisting the "redevelopment" project in Seoul's Yongsan district were arrested, according to IMC S.K.!
Meanwhile in Seoul's towntown area - between Sejong-no and Dongdaemun/Eulji-ro and Jongno-gu - the destruction of entire residential quarters are in progress without pause!
"Under the city's New Town plan, up to 98,742 homes are expected to be torn down in the year 2010 alone", Korea Herald wrote Feb. 5. This means that tens of thousands of families will be evicted until the end of next year!
But while the resistance in Yongsan is now (more or less) well documented, the fate of many other areas (including their residents) is possibly unknown/unoticed..
For example Samgak-/Suha-dong.
The residential area was located between Eulji-ro and Cheonggyecheon.
2004, November 7, it was a Sunday, at 4 o’clock in the morning about 1.000 criminal gangsters (hired by the construction mafia) as usual backed by large units of the riot cops (unit 1001…), stormed the area. By using massive violence they drove the people, mainly still in their beds, out off their homes. After 13 hours the gangsters left the area and 150 shops, offices, workshops and restaurants were almost complete destroyed (the entire story, incl. many pics, you can read here!).
Now, almost five years later, despite massive organized...
...resistance by the residents, Samagak-/Suha-dong is complete abandoned and "ready" for "redevelopment".
Impressions from the area before/during and after the eviction:
MUST SEE ("Hong Gil-dong's.." video about the struggle in Samgak-/Suha-dong):
Last Friday the Yongsan Countermeasure Committee(Yongsan Coalition) released following request for int'l solidarity:
[urgent action] Justice for Yongsan!
Friends and comrades,
In Yongsan, Seoul, South Korea, we have an emergency. January 20th, 2009, 1,500 police including the Korean SWAT team made a surprise attack on comrades who were trying to resist forced eviction and the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) “redevelopment” (or gentrification) program. This so-called “redevelopment” program has continued since the 1960s as an effort to transfer capital, shelter and wealth into the hands of large corporations like Samsung, Posco and Hyundai. Many people can’t afford to pay rent in these apartment complexes and buildings that these huge corporations are establishing with the support of the SMG.
After a large group of comrades who were occupying a building in Yongsan, Seoul, were surprise attacked on January 20th, 6 people were killed in a fire.
The SMG is trying to prosecute members of the National Evictee Alliance who were taking part in the occupation. These comrades are still having a sit-in struggle at the same building in Yongsan. A few months ago, the Candle Light Media Center was established in a building behind the sit-in struggle site. The media center is where many activists gather to work on media projects together.
The prosecutor’s investigation team (who were investigating the “Yongsan Disaster” in which 5 people died on Jan 20) consisted of 100 of the most elite investigators who wrote a 10,000-page investigation document. This investigation team interviewed passer-bys, the police authorities, the firefighters, the SWAT team chain-of-command, and investigated the site of the disaster. The prosecutors now have access to this 10,000-page investigation report and they are claiming that 20 members of the National Evictee Alliance are responsible for the deaths and that no police (or government) have responsibility. The court ordered the prosecutors to release the 10,000-page investigation report to the defending attorneys, but the prosecutors refused to release 3,000 pages of the document.
So far, the prosecutors have released 500 pages of the 3,000 hidden pages of the investigation report. These 500 pages have shown that the National Evictee Alliance comrades never attacked anyone, but used molotov cocktails in self-defense when police and thugs hired by construction corporations attacked. The 500 pages also show that rank-and-order police (including SWAT team) were not informed that the building contained paint thinner while the high-ranking authorities were aware of this fact when they made the decision to attack the occupied building.
The defense attorneys are suspicious that the remaining 2,500 pages provide evidence that the police and SWAT team attack was reckless and resulted in the deaths of 6 people. The trial is currently pending because the defense team is trying to take the case to the supreme court.
We need these 2,500 pages that the prosecutors are trying to hide from the defense team. We also need our right to shelter protected and not subjected to the brutal market economy.
Comrades!
Your comrades in Yongsan, Seoul need your help!
Please do something to help because this state apparatus needs people from around the world to shout at it!
I bet you can’t have a solidarity demonstration at your local Korean Embassy! Or can you?
I bet you can’t send an e-mail to the prosecutors and demand that they release the remaining 2,500 pages of the investigation report! I bet you’re way too lazy! Or maybe not?
Please!
Signed,
Yongsan Coalition (http://mbout.jinbo.net)
contact: mbout@jinbo.net
Here’s the e-mail address of the prosecutors: proskorea@spo.go.kr
Here’s the prosecutors’ phone number: 82-2-3480-2337
Here’s the prosecutors’ fax number: 82-2-3480-2405
First of all: Today's Korea Herald reported that "the chairman of the KCTU acknowledged its responsibility for the violence on Saturday, saying there were some union members who were out of the control."(*)
About last Saturday's "National Workers Rally" in Daejeon today's ("left-liberal") Hankyoreh writes following:
Excessive use of force by police during
KCTU and KCTWU labor rally
Labor rally in Daejeon leads to mass arrest of delivery drivers and unionists
Some 457 workers were arrested, and an estimated 150 workers and police injured during a clash between protesters and police at a labor rally convened in Daejeon on Saturday by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU, Minju Nochong) and the Korea Cargo Transport Workers’ Union (KCTWU). The government reacted to KCTWU’s decision Saturday to launch a general strike by threatening a harsh response and banning future KCTWU and KCTU demonstrations. Observers are concerned about a precipitating clash between labor and the government.
The KCTU and KCTWU convened a rally attended by some 15,000 unionists at Nammun Square in front of the Daejeon Government Complex on Saturday afternoon, and demanded the return to work of delivery drivers fired from Korea Express and the labor rights of ‘specially-employed’ laborers. After the rally, participants conducted a march, during which police moved to suppress the demonstration with clubs and water cannons, leading to a heated clash with resisting, flag-waving demonstrators.
Daejeon police said the protesters, armed with bamboo spears, severely injured two policemen and damaged 99 vehicles, including police buses, and 155 pieces of police equipment. They said they would detain those who assaulted police and destroyed public property, and that they soon planned to arrest the protest leaders, including the leadership of the KCTU and the KCTWU.
The police added they would seek compensation and ban future demonstrations by the two unions. When asked about the matter, Park Sang-hyeon, director of the Korea Cargo Transport Workers’ Union’s legal bureau, said that after breaking up the demonstration, police indiscriminately arrested workers, even those who were merely having dinner or were on their way home. Park said in the end, the police should be held responsible for their use of excessive force.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/355443.html
* Most likely KCTU's chairman is a bit "out of control"!!??
And here some voices of the S.K. bourgeois media:
☞ Police Seek Arrest Warrants for 32 Violent Truckers (K. Times)
☞ Truckers threaten mass walkout (JoongAng Ilbo)
☞ Cargo workers threaten strike (Korea Herald)
Before y'day(5.16) the "Nat'l Workers Rally" - to mark the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, but also to defend labour rights/achieve better working conditions, higher wages etc.. - took place in Daejeon, S. Korea. At least 10,000 workers attended it. Among them about 7,000 organized cargo truck drivers. And while the Korean Cargo Transport Workers' Union announced at the same time that they will go soon on "general strike" the state "authorities" used the opporunity to show them how they intend to deal with the strike(*): thousands of riot cops were sent to attack the rally. But thousands of workers resisted during the following fierce street battles. Ultimately at least 150 union activists were injured and 476 arrested..
* The gov't said it will punish truckers who strike, and will consider severing fuel subsidies, suspending drivers’ licenses and banning future KCTWU/KCTU demonstrations, according to K. Herald and Hankyoreh.
Related reports, incl. many pictures:
☞ 화물연대 '총파업 만장일치 가결'노동과세계
☞ 연행자 수 460명 넘어.."경찰이 미친 것 같다"
☞ 457명 연행한 경찰 "민주노총 지도부 조기 검거"
While the members and supporters of the Countermeasure Committee that was formed to address the Yongsan Massacre are preparing for tomorrow's struggle day..
..the repression against the activists and their supporters is continuing, as you can read in the following article (Hankyoreh, 5.15):
Defendants of Yongsan trial file a countersuit
They protest the trial’s fairness and continue to demand prosecutor’s compliance with the court order for full disclosure of investigation records
The six evicted persons who were indicted on matters related to the Yongsan tragedy filed a countersuit with the 27th criminal court of the Seoul Central District Court on May 14.
They are saying, “The court has tried to proceed with the trial, although the prosecutors have not followed the court’s order to make the investigation records public. We are concerned about the unfairness of the trial.” The court could decide to throw out the countersuit if they find an intention to delay the trial.
Meanwhile, the police arrested seven people, including the defense lawyer Kwon Young-kuk, who participated in a protest to criticize prosecutors and to call for public disclosure of investigation records related to the Yongsan tragedy.
Kwon Young-kuk, the lawyer working on behalf of victims and bereaved family members of the
Yongsan tragedy, is arrested by police for participating in a demonstration to criticize prosecutors
held in front of the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office in the Seocho neighborhood of Seoul, May 14.
Even before the protest began, members of countermeasure council that was formed to address the Yongsan tragedy and police were engaged in struggle as the police moved to prevent the protest from happening.
After almost 30 minutes of struggling, approximately forty council members held the protest during which, they issued an open letter to prosecutors, saying, “Prosecutors have infringed upon the defendants’ rights to a fair trial and denied the spirit of criminal procedure laws.” They added, “Prosecutors should disclose the 3,000 pages of investigation documents that they still have not shared with defense counsel.”
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/355092.html
Related article:
☞ Evicted residents from Yongsan file charges against prosecution.. (5.13)
While the residents and activists of the area where 110 days ago the Yongsan Massacre took place had planned for yesterday and today an impressive "Village Festival" the cops - at least for yesterday - had a complete different schedule! From the morning hundreds of riot cops (including their water cannon vehicles) closed the area(*) and declared the "Village Festival" as an "illegal rally"!
Today the situation was a bit relaxed (the cops lifted the closure partially), as you can see in the video impressions, captured by comrade "Hong Gil-dong..". But because of yesterday's police terror today's part of the "Village Festival" was far away from festive mood..
* Here some pictures from yesterday:
(source of the pics: K. Human Right News, 5.10)
More pictures/reports from yesterday's "festival" you can see/read here:
☞ 용산마을잔치..
☞ 용산참사 희생자 추모미사 열려... 경찰, 추모집회 저지
From today's Hankyoreh:
Police treat laborers as criminals in
labor-management dispute
Labor criticizes recent police arrests for last year’s incidents as police "ignore" special facets of the labor-management dispute
Police and prosecution’s investigations of labor-management disputes have generated criticism from labor that argues that the authorities are treating laborers as criminals.
The Korean Metal Workers Union (KMWU) Cor-Tek branch issued a statement on Tuesday, saying, “Prosecutors suddenly indicted 19 union members who participated in last year’s factory occupation and sit-in demonstration.” The union added, “Prosecutors are conducting an unreasonable investigation because two leaders of that occupation have already been punished by the court.”
Frankfurt a.M. (3.28): Cor-Tek trade union activists joined the central "Anti-G20 Protest"
Cor-Tek, the international guitars and basses maker headquartered in Germany, caused labor strife last year when it decided to close its Korean factory located in Dungchon neighborhood of Seoul and move it to China. On November 25, 2008, 23 union members of Cor-Tek occupied the Korean factory and held a sit-in strike, however, within four hours, they were round up by the police. Two leaders of the union were sentenced to one-year imprisonment, which was then suspended.
Prosecutors recently indicted the other 19 union members on charges of housebreaking with weapons. The crime of housebreaking with weapons carries a minimum prison sentence of one year.
Sung Sei-kyung, the chief of education and public relations department and a senior official of the KMWU, says, “The union members thought the case was over, and we feel the indictments are preposterous.” Lawyer Park Jae-eun who is working on behalf of the union says, “The indictments seem excessive because the prosecutor usually hands out summary indictments for these kinds of cases.”
However, labor says that there have been many similar cases recently. The prosecution arrested two leaders of KMWU’s Donghee AUTO Co. in-house subcontracting branch on April 21, four months after they participated in a demonstration held last December. Donghee AUTO Co. supplies parts for Morning compact cars as a subcontractor of Kia Motors.
The leader of KMWU’s Donghee AUTO Co. in-house subcontracting branch says, “Three union leaders have already been sentenced by the court in connection with last December’s demonstration in front of the factory.” He added, “However, police suddenly came to the union office in April and arrested the other two leaders. It seemed that police were able to obtain an arrest warrant for a different reason, after they failed to get the warrant for the demonstration in front of factory.”
Another senior official of KMWU, Park Jeom-kyu says, “Police used to recognize special facets of the labor-management dispute, however, now a days, they treat laborers as criminals.”
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/353456.html
Related articles:
☞ “노조원을 조폭 취급하는 검찰” (참세상, 5.06)
☞ G20 반대 집회서 울린 "안티 콜트" (참세상, 3.30)
Also (somehow) related:
☞ A suicide protest of a cargo transport worker (Hankyoreh, 5.05)
☞ 박종태 동지의 유서입니다. (노동의소리, 5.06)
After the wave of police terror in Seoul (between last Thursday and Saturday night) the S.K. gov't is increasing the pressure on the progressive protest/resistance movement, as today's Honkyoreh reports:
S. Korean police round up citizens
holding press conferences
Prosecutors aim to book and indict all 220 people recently brought in under a new zero tolerance climate
Prosecutors have announced their hardline plans to book and indict an estimated 220 people hauled in during the Labor Day and “candlelight anniversary” protests held between April 30 and May 2. Moreover, since Monday, police have been in the forefront of public criticism that public powers are violating the people’s freedom assembly and their right to demonstrate and express opinions due to its forceful round up of civic group members who were protesting the excessive arrests.
On Friday the Public Security Department under the head of No Hwan-gyun of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office said that they plan to book all of the approximately 220 people brought in for the illegal and violent acts that took place during the one-year anniversary of the candlelight vigil demonstrations, with the exception of those who show substantial repentance. Prosecutors added that in principle all the booked suspects would be indicted.
They further added they planned to finish their caseload within one to two months from the date of the incident, at the latest. They indicated that they will be taking measures to seek sentences that fit the suspects‘ actions by submitting evidence, including the social and economic damage resulting from the illegal gatherings and demonstrations, to the court.
In accordance with this hardline plan by prosecutors, large-scale punishments are expected to be meted out to this year’s candlelight vigil demonstrators, too. A prosecutorial official said guidelines calling for a stern and tough response have been finalized, and that it appears up to an estimated 10 people will be arrested in connection with Saturday‘s candlelight vigil demonstration. In the case of last May and June’s candlelight demonstrations, some 1,647 people have reportedly been punished as of March, including 44 detainees.
Seoul’s Seodaemun Police Station, meanwhile, forcefully hauled in Monday six of about 20 civic and social group members who held a press conference in front of the National Police Agency (NPA) headquarters in Seodaemun-gu criticizing police for what they called an excessive crackdown on the Labor Day and one-year candlelight anniversary demonstrations. The arrested included a Ms. Myoung-sook of SARANGBANG group for human rights.
After hearing that demonstrators chanted for the resignation of NPA commissioner Kang Hee-rak and an end to violent crackdowns during the press conference, the police charged participants with holding a demonstration without prior notification. Kim Sang-mun of Seodaemun Police Station said the demonstration protested the police’s execution of its duties, and since the guideline for law enforcement has changed into a principle of no tolerance, the police responded out of principle.
About this, Human Rights Network activist Rang-hee said this was almost the first time anyone‘s been hauled in for a press conference, which are being held all of the time. It seems police are stopping even press conferences to block the spread of opinion.
The Human Rights Network Korea, the Korea Progressive Alliance and Korean Confederation of Trade Unions issued a joint statement Monday claiming that even participants in a press conference condemning violent arrests by police have been violently hauled in. They call for police to stop their excessive crackdowns and guarantee the freedom to assemble and demonstrate.
Meanwhile, Lawyers for a Democratic Society interviewed protest participants currently undergoing questioning at 11 police stations in downtown Seoul after they were arrested in candlelight-related demonstrations. Seol Chang-il, a lawyer with Lawyers for a Democratic Society, says it appears a fair number of high school students and even citizens who were watching the demonstrations were round up. He also said there were individuals who needed hospital treatment after they were severely assaulted during their arrest.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/353268.html
Related article:
☞ Police seek warrants for protesters (JoongAng Ilbo, 5.05)
"The Gag Man" (Hankyoreh cartoon, 5.05)
President Lee Myung-bak praises prosecution and police leaders in the voice of a famous ‘gagman,’ “Good Job! The service was lovely! You are suppressing the citizens absolutely.”
The police run to apprehend citizens who participate in the first candlelight vigil demonstrations anniversary.
Last Saturday - Another Day of State Terror in S.K.
Before yesterday thousands of people in Seoul wanted to celebrate the first anniversary of the latest Candlelight Mass Protests. The planned "event" was organized by around 50 civic groups, political parties, labour and resistance organizations.
But (surprise, surprise!!) the police did not allow the demonstration to take place, and deployed 13,000 riot cops to block the rally. In response, hundreds of citizens and activists moved to the Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall and occupied the “Hi Seoul Festival” stage, leading the Seoul city gov't to cancel the festival.
At least from that point on the riot cops attacked with massive violence any movement of the protesters, injured many of them and arrested about 140 people (today's Korea Times reported 240 arrests!).
Related articles:
☞ Police rounded up 240 citizens during weekend demonstrations (Hankyoreh)
☞ Protesters, police clash in beef deal anniversary (Korea Herald)
More pictures and reports:
☞ 서울축제속 촛불 1주년 행사 및 도심 기습시위
MUST SEE! An impressive video documentary about the "event", produced by "Hong Gil-dong.."
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yeah! please spread and circulate this widely!!부가 정보