By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
About 25,000 laborers and farmers protesting against major government policies clashed with riot police in central Seoul Sunday, causing traffic jams.
On their way to Seoul City Hall plaza, the members of the Korean Alliance of Progressive Movements and the Korean Confederation of Trade Union (KCTU) came across riot police barricading the street. The protestors were calling for the abolishment of temporary worker status, and demonstrating their opposition to the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) and the extension of Korean soldiers' deployment in Iraq.
Buses and large vehicles carrying demonstrators from other regions to Seoul were also blocked by police, who set up checkpoints on highways from the early morning.
In the afternoon, the streets were filled with policemen attempting to control the crowd of protestors trying to make it beyond the barricades. About 25,000 protestors marched to Gwanghwamun, dodging a total of 23,000 policemen, while those who did not make it to Seoul protested in their own way.
Hundreds of demonstrators blocked a lane on the Seohaean Expressway to protest police blockade.
A farmer from Haman, South Gyeongsang Province, tried to set himself on fire in the middle of the Gyeongbu Expressway when police tried to stop him and his compatriots from going to Seoul.
The police action came after the government vowed it would take stern measures against illegal collective action. On Friday, four ministries _ justice, labor, construction and transportation, and government administration and home affairs _ warned against the rally. They said the police ordered the KCTU not to hold the rally as it would create heavy traffic jams. It later defined the event as an illegal one.
However, the laborers said the right to perform collective action was guaranteed by the constitution and they would not stop. They also said banning it was an infringement of human rights. `` We are gathering to seek for our own rights and what the government is doing is unacceptable. Is this a democracy?'' a farmer from Busan said.
Police blocked nearly all the roads to city hall causing inconvenience to pedestrians. They complained that the police action caused more noise and traffic chaos.