hankyoreh

with frequent clashes between police and protesters.

On June 29 the government issued an “Announcement to the People Regarding Radical and Violent Demonstrations” and warned that it is going to respond forcefully to the candlelight protests.

The document was issued in the names of the ministers of justice; public administration and security; culture, sports, and tourism; and labor, and also by the chief of staff of the Office of the Prime Minister.

“(The government) has exercised patience and has refrained to the greatest extent possible from the use of force,” they said. “With the candlelight protests turning into radical and violent demonstrations, (the government) has no choice but to employ strong measures in response, according to the law, such as the use of liquid tear gas.”

Observers in the streets, however, say that police violence has become plenty excessive already. On the night of June 28, approximately 50,000 people (organizers estimate that 100,000 participated in the protests, while police put that number at 15,000) gathered in the open space in front of Seoul City Hall for a candlelight protest, but after 9:00 p.m. the confrontation between protesters and police became especially agitated. In the end, 53 people had been arrested and approximately 300 injured. Authorities say 112 riot police were injured as well.

It was midnight when approximately 100 citizens assembled near a side alley near the Seoul City Council building, hearing that riot police brigades were gathering there, noting that the police’s position would allow them to come at protesters in Taepyeongno from the side. The citizens managed to block the narrow alley, where they began to shout the slogan, “Out with Lee Myung-bak.” At approximately twenty minutes after midnight, riot police began to approach the small group.

A group of about fifty individuals from the Korean national YMCA calling themselves the “Lying Action” suggested that everyone link arms and lie down in the street, and everyone in the crowd followed, creating a “human barricade” of seven and eight people wide. Other citizens watched from the sidelines, while still others moved nearby flowerpots to form a line in front of the protesters.

Soon enough, a commanding police officer yelled out “Disperse them! Forward, march!” and members of the brigade shouted vigorously as they began trampling on the citizens lying on the ground. They used the edges of their shields to slam people down, and hit them with long truncheons. The sounds of truncheons and shields making contact with flesh and bone were followed by screaming.

Citizens who had been watching tried to stop the police with umbrellas, but police only reacted with more strength in wielding their shields and truncheons.

A 32-year-old office worker by the name of Kang had been lying at the front of the line before having his nose and collarbone broken. One of his eyes is blackened.

“I was lying down when they hit me several times with the outside corner of their police shields,” he said. “When I ran away, they hit me with their truncheons and shields again.”

Kang has been told by doctors at Hanyang University Hospital that he is going to require a major operation because air has entered his skull, and that he is lucky to be alive.

“I had no idea the police would charge indiscriminately even at women, and without warning, and tear at them with their clubs and shields,” said Yi Hak-yeong, who as secretary-general of the Korean national YMCA created Lying Action. “How can a government that uses violence against citizens who are maintaining a nonviolent tone have the right to say the candlelight protests are violent?”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]