South Koreans to U.S. beef: "Ewwwwww! Barf!"

[marmar]

AFP via Yahoo!:



More than 200 injured in SKorea beef protests
Sun Jun 29, 3:55 AM ET



SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean police clashed violently with protesters opposing US beef imports here on Sunday, leaving more than 200 people injured, officials and witnesses said.

Police fired water cannon and wielded batons to try to control protesters, who hit back with poles and steel pipes, smashing police bus windows and spraying street fire hoses.

With rocks also hurled through the air, many of the injured suffered head wounds and were taken to hospitals in ambulances, according to witnesses.

Protesters attempted to topple a police bus, and police discharged hand-held fire extinguishers to quell the violence.

Seoul police reported they had arrested 55 protesters during the prolonged overnight clashes, in which 114 officers were injured, 15 of them seriously.

"Some of our troops suffered serious bone fractures, with one of them sustaining a fractured skull," a police spokesman told AFP.

Protest organisers claimed more than 100 citizens were hurt. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080629/wl_afp/skoreaustradebeefprotest_080629075517

[fasttense]

1. This is just insane.

For god's sake let the people eat what they want to eat. Why does the US and the South Korean president think it is so necessary to force America's tainted beef onto Koreans?

"About 100 citizens were sent to hospitals," an unnamed protest leader told Yonhap news agency. But the organizers had no specific data on the injuries.

The violence began late Saturday when police stopped thousands of protesters from marching to the presidential office after holding a rally which had been attended by about 15,000 people.

Seoul's decision to resume the US beef imports has sparked mass demonstrations for weeks against the supposed dangers of mad cow disease and against government policies in general."

All this protest over eating deadly American beef. And yet Americans can't even get off their sofas when their elections are stolen.

Is forcing deadly meat on Koreans just a way for the bushes to make their power known?

[Echo In Light]

2. Wow...their citizenry must actually care about such things. If American Idol were canceled here...

...maybe there'd be a slight fraction of that type of backlash/reaction.