SEOUL, South Korea - Thousands of students and labor and civic activists rallied on a downtown Seoul boulevard on Saturday to protest a plan to relocate American military bases, in the largest anti-US demonstration in the capital this year. According to police estimates, about 6,000 protesters waving candles, chanting slogans and singing songs staged a sit-in along a 10-lane boulevard at a major intersection about a block away from the US Embassy.“Stop the expansion of a war base!” shouted the demonstrators, as dozens of large flags representing unions, student and civic groups fluttered in the windy night air.
About 8,500 riot police wearing helmets and plastic shields were deployed around the area. Police formed barricades around the protest site with buses parked bumper-to-bumper to prevent the demonstration from spreading down narrow side streets.
Organizers set up a makeshift platform for dance and songs. Blaring music and slogans from batteries of loudspeakers reverberated through the city center, as a giant electronic screen mounted on a truck flashed slogans such as, “Withdraw US Troops!” and “Down with the defense minister!”
The turnout was the largest among anti-US demonstrations held in Seoul this year, police said. After two hours, demonstrators dispersed voluntarily and there were no reports of violence. It was one of several demonstrations scheduled for the day to denounce a South Korea-US project to move the Seoul-based American military headquarters and some other bases to Pyeongtaek, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) south of the capital.
The project, agreed upon in 2004, has been a main target of anti-US activists here. They claim the project is part of a US scheme to position its troops in a place where they can be quickly deployed to possible conflicts outside the Korean Peninsula.
| If we wanted to do that we'd move them to Guam. |