Scenes of lawlessness and violence spread throughout streets of downtown Seoul Saturday, as police clashed with anti-government demonstrators in the largest street protest held in the capital in more than seven years.
Police fired water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protesters, estimated to number 70,000, as some attempted to push through barricades of police buses to move toward Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office. The demonstration, organized by labor, civic and farmers’ groups, stretched into the night, and police detained 51 people, including two high school students.
Protesters chanted slogans demanding that the incumbent government’s drive for labor reforms and state-issued history textbooks be dropped. More than 20,000 riot police were mobilized, but some participants tried to move some of the buses by pulling ropes tied to the vehicles. Others smashed the windows of the buses with sticks.
Dozens of people were reportedly injured as the protests turned violent. An elderly farmer, who traveled by bus from Boseong, South Jeolla Province, to attend the rally, remained unconscious at a hospital after being allegedly hit by water cannons near City Hall.
Some police officers were also injured as protesters threw bricks at officers camped out on the top of the buses and threatened them with flagpoles. Nine police buses were badly damaged.
Seoul’s citizens suffered from awful traffic congestion and noise all day long. Parents and students in particular were nervous because Saturday was the day students were to take an essay test as part of the college entrance exams.
Weekend rallies in downtown Seoul are nothing new, and freedom of assembly and the right to demonstrate are ensured as basic rights in a democratic society. But it’s different if such protests turn violent and exceed the boundaries of the law.
One cannot but deplore the fact that many of the rallies in Seoul turn violent and cause plenty of damage and disruption. There is no reason for citizens to tolerate this abnormal state any longer.
It’s long past time for our backwards assembly and culture of demonstrations to be modernized.
Law enforcement authorities need to guarantee peaceful rallies to the fullest. Protesters, for their part, should give up occupying roads, using loudspeakers and engaging in physical clashes, given that the public no longer accepts violence at rallies.
Police vowed to severely punish those responsible for any unlawful activity at the latest rally. But if the past is any guide, their resolve might end up as an empty promise. To rectify our misguided demonstration culture, it’s imperative that violent protestors be pursued and punished harshly.