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The protesters against the import of U.S. beef call for withdrawal of new sanitary rules for U.S. beef and beef products and resignation of the Lee Myung-bak administration on Sunday. The protesters rallied in front of Jonggak because the entrance to the Seoul Plaza in front of the Seoul City Hall was blocked by police barricades. /Newsis
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The government will track down instigators of illegal violent demonstrations and prosecute them, it threatened in an emergency statement at 3 p.m. Sunday. The government also plans to file civil lawsuits for damages from vandalism. Justice Minister Kim Kyung-han, delivering the statement, said demonstrators who vandalized police buses with iron pipes and hammers and attacked police officers with slingshots and iron pipes ¡°threaten the safety of ordinary citizens. We cannot close our eyes and have to take strict measures against the protesters,¡± the statement read.
On Sunday night, police became more assertive than they had been, preventing protesters from gathering by blocking the entry to Seoul Plaza in front of the Seoul City Hall from all corners with barricades. That prevented violent rallies that had continued for more than a month in the Sejongno intersection. Instead, protesters marched around the Jongno and Euljiro area and held sporadic demonstrations along the way. From 8 p.m., some 1,000 protesters blocked the whole of Jongno 1-ga with a sit-in.
From Saturday night until early on Sunday morning, the demonstration took the most violent form since mid-May. Protesters responded to the police water cannons by hooking up hoses to fire hydrants, and swung sickles, hammers and iron pipes at the police. Hundreds of demonstrators and 112 police officers were injured, and 55 detained.
The People's Association for Measures Against Mad Cow Disease planned another candlelight vigil from 5 p.m. on Sunday at the Seoul Plaza, but the police built barricades around the plaza from 4 p.m., towing away cars with speakers and large trucks belonging to the Korea Cargo Transport Workers Union which were parked near the square. When the demonstrators gathered in the street, police immediately tried to disperse them.
In Jongno 1-ga, the demonstrations became more lively from around 11 p.m. Ten lawmakers participated in Sunday¡¯s rally, including Song Young-gil and Kang Chang-il from the United Democratic Party. The police asked the legislators to open up two lanes for the cars to pass, but Kang refused, saying there was no traffic in the area.
Saturday¡¯s demonstrations drew 15,000 people by the police estimate, the largest number since June 10.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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