Posted November. 10, 2003 23:02,
Police believe that the violence of Sundays rallies, which involved some 700 firebombs, wielding metal pipes, sling shots, bolts, nuts, and other dangerous materials, was systemically organized.
The police is interrogating a 36 year-old union member of the Busan Metal Workers Trade Union who was arrested near the Kimcheon Tollgate of the Kyeongbu Highway at around 1:25 a.m. Monday on suspicion of delivering some 360 firebombs Sunday by a Starex mini-van from the Chung-Ang University located in Heukseok-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul to the square in front of the Seoul City Hall.
The police are also paying attention to provocative writings which had appeared a couple of days prior to the rallies, such as Lets organize the 2,000 vanguard and prepare firebombs and nuts for demonstrations, on websites including the Korean Confederation of Trade Union (KCTU) and the Power of Working Class (PWC) website.
There is no sufficient information so far that indicates involvement of KCTU leaders in organizing the use of firebombs, but the government is considering taking legal actions on the leadership since the protests themselves exceeded the legal boundaries, one senior police officer said.
However, Lee Hwee-jeong(45), the chief of gathering planning in the KCTC, refuted, saying, We never heard of firebombs at the leadership level but instead we prepared peaceful demonstrations. Only some raged union members used firebombs in protest of the polices violent quelling.
Citizens, however, say that even if the activists claim is justifiable, violent demonstrations are an act of anachronism.
The rallies broadcast by foreign media such as CNN were as terrifying as a civil war. We must not tolerate the violent demonstrations which set the clock back to 10 years before and which disgraced South Korea all over the world, said Lee Sue-jin, a 32-year old office worker.
We are no longer living in a despotic state. I simply have no clue why they had to be so violent, said Lee Jin-sun, 23-year old female college student.
I have an impression that workers who participated in the rallies had intentionally prepared fire bombs and steel pipes to conduct violent demonstrations. After all, the leadership is responsible for the violence, so the KCTC must promise such violent demonstrations will not occur again, said Jang Won-suk, a 60 year-old small business owner.
Some, however, point out the government and the police, to a certain extent, are also responsible for provoking violence to reach such an extreme degree.
The demands that unions called for on the day are the ones that have long been accumulated. Even though violent protests were anticipated, the government could not stop them because they do not have solid solutions, said Go Gye-hyun, the policy manager of the Citizens Coalition for Economic Justice.
The police are also being criticized for worsening the situation by not being sufficiently prepared for the clashes despite having being informed of the possible violence that is likely to occur during the demonstrations.
Meanwhile, the police arrested and are questioning 113 demonstrators, including five demonstrators for hurling fire bombs. Among the 105 arrested union members, 71 and 21 of them, respectively, belong to the Federation of Korea Metal Workers Trade Unions and the Korea Chemical and Texture Workers Federations and four of them have not yet been identified.