Just a week ago, Seoul’s upscale Myeong-dong area brimmed with foreign tourists, shopping bags and vendors. Last night, as torn-up pieces of the cobblestone pedestrian mall hurtled through streaking tear gas, the scene was entirely different.
Police Intimidation
We arrived entirely unprepared for the situation that unfolded– half-packed for what was supposed to be a refreshing weekend retreat in the beach town Sokcho, we found ourselves flung into a mosh-pit of press, anarchists and riot police. Dashing into the fray with a camera, I managed to capture the stoning. In the following clip you can see the anonymous protesters tossing granite slabs, first at the heads of riot police, then their legs, preventing them from simultaneously defending both areas.
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The police occasionally lost composure, returning rocks at the protesters. In one such incident, an errant rock tossed from the front line impacted the reporter in front of me, who doubled over out of breath and apparently unconscious.
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Myeong-dong contrasted sharply with our experience earlier in Jongno, where, despite using heavy intimidation, riot police captured and detained protesters peaceably. We will bring you more on these events, Myeong-dong, and continuing developments as we follow the demonstrations into their second day (despite being warned to stay away).
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What was this riot about? Is there any other blogs following this story?
We haven’t found much on these riots in particular, but we’re working hard to bring you some different opinions. Everything from interviews on the street in Myeong-dong and City Hall, to guest bloggers.
hi, I was in Myeong-Dong on Friday night as well. A search for any info on what the riot was about lead me to your site. The events went unreported in the Korean Herald the next day so Google was my last hope. I wonder if there is censorship going on here? I am told that societal order is very important to the local culture in Korea.
It was a confusing and random situation to be in. The tide of violence seemed to come up out of nowhere. Protesters were hiding among the crowds and throwing objects at the police, who were easy targets in their riot formation.
Your footage is great and clearly shows what was going on. I took some video also, but not nearly as clear.
Great blog btw!
I wrote about it on my blog. Just a little background info about the riot and some personal observations.
http://overseoul.wordpress.com/2009/05/03/154/
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Stay away? Puh…why? It’s not like we almost got arrested or anything…
These are the same “progressive” groups who have been protesting against the government for the last year or so. They were the ones behind the whole anti-U.S. beef thing which turned out to be a big fraud. Their basic strategy is to provoke the police and hope for a reaction so that they can become “martyrs” in the liberal media. The liberal media generally will ignore the provocations from the protesters, and concentrate mainly on the police reactions. In this way, they hope to inflame public opinion and bring ordinary citizens out into the streets in support of their cause.
What happened last weekend seems more extreme compared to what the protesters were doing in January and February after the Yongsan Incident. The protesters have become much more confrontational, hoping to piss off the police as much as possible. Anyway, I think if the police have said to “clear the area” several times and you’re just an ordinary bystander but remain in the area, then you are kind of asking for trouble and shouldn’t complain if the police nab you.
I would advise you when documenting protester violence to be very careful. They are engaged in a propaganda effort and do not want to be seen as provoking the police first. Last summer I was jumped by half a dozen of these same protesters after I took a picture of them attacking a homeless guy in Chongno-3-ga during a protest; they tore my shirt and clawed my neck, chest and arms. I was lucky to get away because a Korean friend happened to be nearby and was able to separate me from the protesters. In any case, if you are in an area where there are few other media around, and you are documenting the protesters causing violence, be very careful lest you become a target yourself.
These people are extremely volatile and rather psychotic at times. If they think no one is watching, they are capable of some very nasty shit.
PS: Here are a few reports from the Yongsan Incident protests if you are interested:
http://www.kingbaeksu.com/bbs/view.php?id=bug&page=2&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=1433
At the end you will also see links to several reports on the mad-cow candlelight vigils of 2008. I have lived in Chongno for over ten years and believe I have represented what happened fairly accurately.
We’d noticed this kind of thing at Myeong-dong. There were a number of occasions in which members of the media were assaulted because the protesters believed that their face had appeared on camera, or that they’d been otherwise exposed.
Your comment is great because it illustrates just how complicated this issue is, and frankly, our accounts have so far been more anti establishment than well-balanced. Thanks for contributing.
My word- you’ve attracted the attention of King Baeksu: Korea’s most famous zine historian (his big book is GREAT)- you’ve officially arrived
He slants a bit more towards the conservative with each year he’s here, but his take and history are always thought provoking at least.
Hello Joshua, thanks for the comments. I’m not conservative, I consider myself an anarchist more than anything else. Read some of George Orwell’s writings from the 1930s and his growing disdain for the left in Great Britain at the time. I sort of feel the same way about the ubernationalists here in Korea. If anything, Korean nationalism is quite reactionary and conservative, so I don’t see how it makes me a conservative to critique that!
Indeed? I should have known you were an Orwell fan. Good stuff that- his essay on killing an elephant stands out in my head still. I think Orwell would be amused by the numerous military blogs the Korean government runs.
Right so that they are rather nationalistic and reactionary… I suppose what I meant to say is that, as the years go by, your diatribes sound more and more like the angry guy sitting at the end of the bar talking about the “damn kids these days,” beloved by the bar patrons, but in need of a good stiff drink. Cheers~
Alright guys, let’s settle this with a good old fashioned bar fight. Just give us a few minutes to rig some lighting and get the white balance right.
Really glad to hear you chime in– this is a complicated issue, and one we really ought to do justice to. If you or anyone you know wants to guest blog, or otherwise contribute to the May Day topic, let me know!