On Sunday, November 11th, 2007 20,000 farm workers, college students, and blue collar workers staged a rally at City Hall in Seoul. The rally was held in protest of the US-Korea free trade agreement as well as the recent legislation that the groups claim discriminates against non-regular workers.
The rally lasted from early afternoon well into the night. At some point things turned ugly with protesters and police clashing in the streets. The police dragged out the water houses and batons and waded into the crowds. Some of the protesters were prepared and brought out ladders to scale the police buses and ropes to try and bring the busses down.
Apparently the rally began heading toward the US embassy nearby and that’s when things hit the fan. News reports are saying that only a single policeman and protester were lightly injured, but a friend at the rally (whose pictures these are from) said that some people were cut and bleeding or had broken bones from the police batons.
Another rally is scheduled in a few weeks. We will see if more people show up and if things can remain peaceful.
I’m a blogger, writer, and teacher. I’ve been working in South Korea’s ESL field for the last three years. My one year contract has unexpectedly turned into a journey that I’m still on and loving.
