South Korea: Protesters and police clash in Seoul as Sewol ferry remains un-raised a year after disaster that killed 300 people
Around 100 protesters were arrested as police deployed water cannons and pepper spray on the crowds
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Your support makes all the difference.At least 100 protesters have been arrested after thousands of demonstrators clashed with police at a rally in South Korea demanding a stronger government response to the ferry disaster a year ago that left more than 300 people dead.
Tensions have been running high among the surviving family members of the victims, who have expressed outrage that the South Korean government has failed to raise the ferry, conduct a full inquiry into the incident or recover all the bodies of those who died by the first anniversary of the tragic sinking, which counted 250 students on a school trip among the dead.
Around 13,000 police and 470 police buses were deployed to deal with the protesters around the main ceremonial thoroughfare in Seoul on Saturday.
Several of the police buses were left damaged by the day’s events. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said they used water cannons on the marchers and pepper spray, while using their buses to barricade the marchers’ route to the country’s presidential Blue House. Several police buses were damaged in the process.
Nine protesters and three police members were taken to hospital with injuries, a fire department official said, while many protesters were treated with first aid at the rally site.
Saturday’s protest, organised by the victims’ families, was the largest in recent weeks and marked a year since the Sewol ferry capsized after making a sharp turn. It was discovered the ferry, which was on a routine journey from Incheon to the southern island of Jeju, had been structurally unsound and overloaded with cargo.
South Korea’s president Park Geun-huy gave her strongest indication yet that the government would start to raise the 6,800 tonne ship last Thursday. She then left the country for an 11-day trip to Latin America.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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