The Defense Ministry and the police have agreed to put up barbed wire fences around the site for a planned new U.S. Forces Korea headquarters to keep protestors from occupying an elementary school and working the fields there. The government plans to mobilize a huge force of some 14,000 troops to evict the resistance on Thursday, raising fears of violent clashes with residents, activists and members of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions camped out at the Daechu-ri Elementary School in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.
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Activists protest against a government order to vacate land needed for a new U.S. Forces Korea headquarters at the Daechu-ri Elementary School in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday.
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In response to the news, protestors called on all supporters to gather at the school and make a stand. Already leaflets have compared the situation to the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising, which was bloodily suppressed, and now there are slogans in the vein of, "We will unite with the workers of the North to fight against the U.S.," all of which bodes ill for the eviction.
The government in a statement Wednesday said if things proceed quickly, the eviction and demolition of the school and installation of the fence could start early on Thursday morning. Some 110 companies of police or 11,000 officers and 3,000 troops consisting of engineers and unarmed guards as well as private security firms have been mobilized for the operation.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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