hankyoreh

The riot police on Sunday discharge leftover teargas solution into the road after they dispersing the second group of “Hope Bus” participants. The participants traveled to the Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC)’ Yeongdo shipyard where Kim Jin-suk, a Direction Committee member for the Busan chapter of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), has staged an aerial protest on the No. 85 crane for more than six months calling for the withdrawal of HHIC’s layoff plans.

The police have been criticized for indiscriminately squirting teargas solution, hitting children, the elderly, and people with disabilities while attempting to block them from entering the HHIC protest site. The police incurred strong criticism for using teargas solution containing carcinogenic dichloromethane during a violent crackdown on a strike by Ssangyong laborers in 2009.

The police said the solution used this time is not harmful to people because it lacks the dichloromethane, and the teargas solution was discharged by mistake.

(Photo courtesy of a twitter user @assa76)