Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators yesterday marched in Seoul in what police believed was the largest protest in the South Korean capital in nearly a decade.
About 80,000 people were expected to turn up for the downtown rallies that were to stretch into the evening, according to an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, who did not want to be named, citing office rules.
The marches, organized by an umbrella labor union and civic groups, brought together protesters with a diverse set of grievances against the government of conservative South Korean President Park Geun-hye, including her business-friendly labor policies and a decision to require middle and high schools to use only state-issued history textbooks in classes from 2017.
Photo: EPA
Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) briefly clashed with police, who unsuccessfully tried to detain KCTU president Han Sang-goon during a news conference, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. A Seoul court had issued an arrest warrant for Han over a failed court appearance, after he was indicted for his involvement in organizing a May protest that turned violent.
Demonstrators, many of them wearing masks and carrying banners, occupied a major downtown street and began marching between tight perimeters created by police buses, intended to block them from entering large roads leading to the presidential Blue House. Police officers, many wearing helmets and body armor, moved swiftly to flank the demonstrators.
This was probably the largest crowd seen in a demonstration in Seoul since 2008, when people poured onto the streets to protest the government’s decision to resume US beef imports amid lingering mad cow fears, the Seoul police official said.
Labor groups have been denouncing government attempts to change labor laws to allow larger freedom for companies in laying off workers, which policymakers say would be critical in improving a bleak job market for young people.
Critics say that the state-issued history textbooks, which have not been written yet, would be politically-driven and might attempt to whitewash the brutal dictatorships that preceded South Korea’s bloody transition toward democracy in the 1980s.
Park is the daughter of slain former South Korean president Park Chung-hee, who ruled the nation in the 1960s and 1970s, and whose legacy as a successful economic strategist is marred by records of severe oppression.
South Korean police in May detained more than 40 people when protests over the government’s labor policies and the handling of last year’s Sewol ferry disaster spiraled into violence, leaving several demonstrators and police injured and many police buses damaged.
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