Just a day ahead of South Korea's formal resumption of U.S. beef imports, some 20,000 protesters scuffled with riot squads early Monday and hauled police vehicles away as they tried to clear the way to the presidential complex in Seoul.
The protest came to a violent end when the police mobilized over 7,000 officers to break up the crowd with clubs and riot shields only several hundred meters away from Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office. It was the latest street rally calling on the government to retract its decision to allow U.S. beef imports.
Seoul government agreed on April 18 to almost fully reopen its market to U.S. beef despite concerns it could also allow parts including bones and sections of intestines that are feared to trigger mad cow disease.
The disease, also known as bovine spongiform scephalopathy, is found in a rare number of cows and believed to cause Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a fatal human malady associated with sponge-like brain degeneration.
After a series of delays, Seoul went ahead last week with an official announcement that it would begin the resumption on Tuesday, which also marks the 100th day since President Lee Myung-bak took office.
Lee, a conservative who won the December election in a landslide, has been accused of granting Washington the beef deal as part of diplomatic gestures aimed at boosting his April summit with U.S. President George W. Bush.
On Sunday, some 30,000 protesters began a candlelight rally in central Seoul, with huge portions of them later marching toward Lee's office through a thoroughfare next to the U.S. embassy.
Source: Xinhua
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