More than 200 injured in S. Korea beef protests
SKOREA: South Korean police clashed violently with protesters
opposing US beef imports here 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.
Seoul, Sunday, AFP
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