Teachers Mobilized to Disperse Anti-US Beef Rally
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
More than 800 teachers, mobilized by the education authorities, attempted to send home their students participating in the rally against the U.S. beef imports at Cheonggye Plaza, Saturday.
The teachers were there to ``guide'' the participating students to go home at the instruction of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. The education office said students could get hurt in the crowd if they are involved in a clash with police.
Rally organizers and students criticized the education authority's measures. ``Banning and supervising students' voluntary participation is an infringement of their human rights,'' a member of the civic coalition against U.S. beef imports said.
Students, civic group members and citizens have held candlelit vigils almost every evening since May 2 to oppose the full opening of the local market to U.S. beef.
Like other vigils since May 2, however, there were neither clashes between ralliers and police, nor any other dangerous, violent situations at the Saturday vigil where 30,000-40,000 people gathered. The exact tally varies depending on agencies.
Many teenagers have taken part in the rallies, saying they will be the main ``victims'' of American beef, which they believe to be unsafe. They have lit candles despite police warnings that such rallies are illegal.
Educational authorities said earlier that some media and political groups are agitating the youth protests. Some schools sent written requests to students' homes to urge parents to dissuade the children from participating in the demonstration.
The mobilization of teachers at the rally site came after police questioned a high school boy who reported his rally plan to police. On May 6, a police officer in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, took the student out of class and questioned him over why he did it and who was behind the protest. With public criticism mounting for this incident, the officer and school teachers said the questioning took place during break time, not class ― which turned out to be false. The police officer was suspended from his duties.