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South Korean police detain 53 farmers for violent protests
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-11-16 16:25
South Korean police said that 53 farmers had been detained for questioning
after violent street protests against trade liberalisation left some 130 people
injured.
Farmers hurled rocks and beat riot police with steel pipes and sticks near
the National Assembly Tuesday after a rally opposing free trade policies ahead
of this week's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
"We are sorting out those who will be charged and arrested," a police officer
told AFP.
The three-hour battle left 130 farmers and police injured, he said.
Protesters also burned three police buses.
They also burned a large painting showing US President George W. Bush
thrusting a knife into a rice bag, and threatened to disrupt the APEC forum if
lawmakers ratified a bill that would open South Korea's rice market wider.
Activists and farmers' groups have said that tens of thousands of protesters
will rally in Busan on Friday when Bush and other regional leaders open their
two-day summit.
The farmers' anger has been building since South Korea last year agreed to
double rice imports to meet a World Trade Organization (WTO) accord that allows
Seoul a grace period until 2014 before all import restrictions on rice are
lifted.
The government has pledged to offer compensation to the embattled farming
community, but farmers say they will step up protests if the assembly endorses
the rice deal.
The WTO is running out of time to resolve talks on agriculture and other
sensitive areas before a crucial ministerial gathering in Hong Kong in December.
APEC is urging the Hong Kong conference to set the seal on four years of WTO
talks launched in the Qatari capital Doha that aim to deliver a comprehensive
treaty on free trade by 2006.
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