Updates for the Evening of June 25   2008-06-25 23:21

About 200 protesters made it to the Blue House this afternoon, by arriving individually instead of as a group. (Lots of people live in that neighborhood, so the police can't just stop individuals from coming and going.) The government announced today that it would go ahead with the U.S. beef deal without further ado, and this obviously triggered the citizens to renew their efforts against the deal. The government also released the full content of its June 20/21 agreement with the U.S., and it turns out to be an almost verbatim copy of the document that has been available on the USTR website for a few days now. (See our "Deceit, Deceit, Deceit" for a thorough discussion of this document.) So we still have a lot to protest against; the government's policy on food safety hasn't changed at all since April 18. But now the Korean People face an even greater threat, as the government has bolstered its policy of brutal crackdown as much as the citizens have renewed their efforts.

Forty-seven citizens have been arrested so far for refusing to obey the police's order to break up. Most of the arrests took place near the Blue House where, as I said, approximately 200 people were protesting within earshot of the President's office. But citizens were also arrested in various locations throughout central Seoul. Wherever there was a sizable crowd of anti-government protesters, the police showed up and ordered them to break up. Whoever refused to obey was arrested, often with violence.

According to the government, the arrests are justified because the protests are illegal. First of all, all demonstrations must be reported to the government beforehand (and the government, of course, reserves the right to disapprove), but none of our gatherings were so reported (obviously, because many of them were spontaneous). This excuse does not work because Article 21, Section 2 of the Constitution expressly prohibits any measure that would make the freedom of expression and association subject to government approval. Second, the government says that demonstrators are not supposed to occupy public roadways. This law is usually taken to prohibit only those gatherings that interfere with motor traffic, so many protesters chose to demonstrate on the sidewalk where possible. But the government is now arresting those on the sidewalk, and the excuse is that sidewalks are part of public roadways. Does this mean that we should only ever demonstrate in our own back yards? Lame... very lame.

The woman in the picture above is Yi Jeong-Hee, a member of the National Assembly (Congress) who belongs to the left-wing Democratic Labor Party. She informed the police of her status as a Congresswoman, but the police arrested her nonetheless. Ms. Yi also claims that she was not informed of her Miranda rights at the time of her arrest; and we know the same to be true of many others who have been arrested over the last few weeks. This is the first time in over 20 years that a member of the National Assembly was arrested for expressing her opposition to government policies. The last time something like this happened was during the days of dictator Chun Doo-Hwan.

Many parents who participated in the protests brought their children with them, some because they wanted their children to learn about what's going on, and others because they just couldn't leave their young at home. The police, however, did not care. the 12-year-old boy in the picture above (left) was arrested along with the grown-ups, and released only after a police officer confirmed his age a few minutes afterwards. Those few minutes could have given the boy a lifetime of nightmares! Younger children in baby carriages (right) were thankfully not arrested, but fears are mounting that they will be left behind when the parents are arrested. Many mothers are actively participating in protests, often with babies in their arms. As food safety is one of the most important issues at hand, it is only to be expected that mothers (and fathers, too) would be concerned the most. But families who plan to spend the warm summer night outdoors protesting are strongly advised to arrange for the care of their children in case the parents become unreachable. Childrenget lost and hurt even in peaceful times; during a turmoil like this, extra caution is required.

Somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 citizens gathered this evening for another candlelight vigil, as usual. The numbers aren't as high this week as they used to be, but we'll have to wait for another weekend. As of 11:00 p.m., several thousand remain in Sejong Street and Gwanghwamun; and the police is beginning to threaten another round of violent crackdown. Seems like we'll have yet another night of respiratory problems, as the police is spraying fire extinguishers all over the place. Those chemicals, I tell you, are harsh. Prolonged exposure could be more dangerous than being hit by a water cannon at 60mph.

Update: Around 12:05 a.m., the police began to shoot water cannons.

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