South Korea workers clash with police during May Day protests in Seoul
South Korean workers have clashed with riot police in the capital, Seoul, during a May Day rally to slam the government’s labor policies.
Thousands of riot police set up barricades and tight perimeters with their buses in Seoul to block the 10,000 workers from marching toward the office of President Park Geun-hye on Friday, May 1, the international Labor Day.
However, demonstrators tried to move the buses by ropes and police fired water cannons and tear gas in clashes with them to disperse the protesters occupying roads.
The demonstrations on Friday came for a third week of protest rallies against the conservative government’s labor policies as well as the last year’s ferry disaster. Protesters blame the government for failing to properly address the tragedy, which claimed more than 300 lives.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is against a series of new government policies that will reduce wages and job security. Labor organizations are also opposed to a revised pension system for government employees and family-owned corporations, known as the chaebol.
Han Sang-goon, the KCTU president, said at one of the rallies that “We, the workers, will succeed in forcing the administration of Park Geun-hye to stop its repression of labor.”
Meanwhile, trade unions and left-wing groups in other countries worldwide such as Turkey, Russia, France and Indonesia staged rallies to mark the International Workers’ Day, also known as Labor Day or May Day.
The May Day demonstrations in South Korea came against the backdrop of anti-government demonstrations in April, with protesters calling for a more thorough investigation into the 2014 ferry tragedy.
The passenger ship, Sewol, carrying 476 people sank off South Korea’s southern coast on April 16, 2014, claiming the lives of 304 people on board, including 250 schoolchildren.
Prosecutors blamed the incident on a number of factors, including, crew members’ negligence, excessive cargo, improper storage and slow rescue efforts.
Supporters of the ferry victims’ relatives, who also took part in the Friday demonstration, want more effective actions by the government in response to the sinking.
MIS/HSN/SS
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