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police buses block the roads around the building where a civilian demonstration two days earlier against a redevelopment project resulted in the deaths of five civilians and one police officer. The 5-story building where the deadly incident took place is on the right.

The tragedy that left five civilians and one police officer dead when a fire broke out during a demonstration in a Yongsan area slated for redevelopment is being blamed on the police’s use of “excessive” force to suppress the protest, which was in its 25th hour when police commando units were sent in. With this incident, the Lee Myung-bak administration’s willingness to use force to control demonstrations has some pointing to another trend -- a close relationship with construction companies that seems to be growing closer.

The incident began when area residents began demonstrating early Tuesday against the redevelopment scheme, which they say would have forced them to leave their homes and give up their businesses without sufficient compensation for their losses. Police and protesters clashed when police attempted to close in on protesters occupying the roof of a five-story commercial building in the Yongsan district.

Groups that support the interests of area residents and businesspeople who were to be displaced by the redevelopment project said, “The police are supposed to be fair and protect all civilians, but now they are just supporting one side... When the tragedy occurred, around 150 security personnel from manpower firms and more than 1,000 police officers were at the site... They just pushed forward with the demolition of the buildings. Meanwhile, the government turned its back on the civilians, putting little effort into helping them find new places to go.”

The greatest amount of criticism is focused on the police’s intervention in a private property issue. The government is not expected to intervene in private property issues. This includes disputes over compensation for those in the path of redevelopment such as that between area residents and privately-run companies such as Samsung C&T and POSCO, two of the companies responsible for managing the Yongsan area redevelopment project.

Choi In-kee, a lawmaker with the main opposition Democratic Party, said, “Was there any reason for the police to have made such a hasty intervention in a dispute between construction companies and area residents?”

Prior to the incident, police seemed to have been forming a coalition with construction workers on the site. A member of organization of people protesting the Yongsan redevelopment said, “On Monday, security personnel burned used tires on the third floor, but the police didn’t take any action... Some of the security personnel were even holding police shields.”

According to the organization, the police’s use of what has been deemed “excessive” force to intervene in similar disputes has been more frequent under the Lee administration. Last October, police helped security personnel enter a redevelopment zone in Gwangmyung, using a water cannon to disperse protesters at another construction site. Similar incidents took place in and around Seoul in the following two months.

Lee Won-ho, the organization’s director, said, “In the 1970s and 1980s, we could see a pattern of close cooperation between police and security personnel throughout the demolition process. We have begun to see it quite frequently again since last year.”

Such close cooperation seems to have resulted in more intense conflicts that take the greatest toll on civilians, who then increase their resistance. With police intervention, construction companies have little incentive to engage in dialogue with protesting residents.

Some critics suspect the existence of a covert connection between police and construction companies. One of the organization’s leading members said, “Since a redevelopment project involves an enormous amount of profit, (construction companies) are extremely interested in having connections to the police. Construction companies and other stakeholders expect that things will be resolved more effectively with police intervention, so they are more interested in improving relations with police than having dialogue or negotiations with tenants.”

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