80,000 protest US beef in South Korea despite Cabinet offer to resign

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-11  |     ONLINE EDITION

TENS of thousands of activists rallied overnight and into today in the largest demonstration yet against the planned resumption of US beef imports, failing to be placated by the South Korean Cabinet's offer to resign.

President Lee Myung-bak was expected to accept the resignations of a few ministers, which would not affect his ability to serve out his single, five-year term.

The Cabinet's offer to resign yesterday was an attempt to defuse the beef crisis that has sparked weeks of protests and paralyzed Lee's government less than four months after the former Hyundai CEO took office following a landslide election win.

What started as a trickle of small protests against a beef deal with the US has swelled into a torrent of anti-government street rallies, sometimes violent, invoking the memory of pro-democracy movements in the 1980s that brought down the then-military dictatorship.

Protests starting yesterday fell on the anniversary of pro-democracy protests in 1987 that intensified when a student activist died after being struck by a tear gas canister fired by riot police.

"I came to the rally again because Lee has turned the clock back to 21 years ago," said Hyun Jong-chul, 45, an office worker at yesterday's protest in Seoul, the largest anti-beef rally so far that police said peaked at some 80,000 demonstrators.

Some 21,000 riot police were deployed to keep order in the city center, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said, and authorities blocked roads with shipping containers to prevent the crowd from marching to the nearby presidential Blue House.

Rallies continued until early today but no clashes or injuries were reported. Police said they arrested about 20 protesters on charges of occupying major Seoul streets and causing traffic congestion.

Small-scale candlelight vigils involving several thousands of people were also expected in Seoul on Wednesday night, according to police and protest organizers.