New mass protest against govt, US beef in SKorea

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

SEOUL (AFP) — Tens of thousands of South Koreans Saturday called for the scrapping of US beef imports and the resignation of President Lee Myung-Bak in the latest of a series of mass protests in Seoul.

Waving flags and banners, the crowd numbering some 35,000 packed a broad street near the City Hall in central Seoul, many of them sitting down on the damp pavement in defiance.

They chanted slogans such as "Lee Myung-Bak out" and "People will triumph", and a large red banner reading, "Mad Cow, Mad Government" was floated high in the air.

Passers-by and vehicles were turned away from the area, which was sealed off completely with barricades of police buses, parked tightly and manned by thousands of riot police with shields.

The demonstrations, going...