Not your “everyday scuffle” with police,
this protest looks more like a scene from “Braveheart”.
Hundreds of South Korean protesters attacked police in Pyongteak on Sunday.
Some 7,000 demonstrators threw steel pipes and stones at about 10,000 police guarding Camp Humphreys in Pyongtaek, about 50 miles south of Seoul. Some demonstrators were seen bleeding but the number of injured wasn’t immediately known.
“The government made an agreement with the United States without consensus from the residents,” said one protester, Oh Jeong-sun, 56.
The U.S. military in South Korea is now headquartered at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, but is set to move its entire command to Pyongtaek by 2008 as part of plans to consolidate bases and reduce the number of U.S. troops.
About 32,500 American troops are now deployed in South Korea, but that number will eventually drop to 24,500.
Meanwhile, a group supporting the relocation also held a rally in Pyongtaek that drew about 500 people, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
Thousands of protesters turned out for the rally against the planned move of US military personnel to the area.
Maybe the answer is just to pull them all out? Hmm.
I am wondering what it is about South Korean protesters?
I posted on another unruly South Korean protest earlier this year.