SKorea to continue crackdown on protests
Print Edition
THE South Korean government vowed yesterday to crack down on any more violent protests, a day after dozens were arrested during a rally against labor reforms, the largest street protest of President Park Geun-hye's term.
Organizers said they will take to the streets again on December 5.
More than 60,000 people took part in Saturday's protest, according to police, and a group of a few dozen fought with the police at the front line, trying to break through barricades of police buses blocking off downtown Seoul's main thoroughfare.
Police used water cannons to disperse the crowd and sprayed liquid laced with an irritant found in chilli pepper to fight off protesters swinging metal pipes and sharpened bamboo sticks.
"The government was fully prepared to guarantee a lawful and peaceful rally, but some people came prepared with illegal equipment such as steel pipes and conducted a violent protest," Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong said.
"These activities were a grave challenge to law and order and public authority, and they will not be tolerated," he said.
The police arrested 51 people and are questioning them on various charges including illegal protest, assaulting police officers and destroying public equipment.
The police said about 10 protesters were injured, including a member of a militant farm activist group who was knocked down by a water cannon blast. He was in stable condition after emergency surgery yesterday, a police official said.
Protestors, including some of the country’s most militant labor and activist groups, say the labor reforms benefit only family-controlled conglomerates, and make it easier to fire workers.
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