So here's what the "peaceful" anti-2MB protesters did to the evil "violent" police and other "reactionary" elements on Saturday
night, July 26th:
1. At around 9:30pm, about 1,000 protesters had occupied the main intersection at Chonggak so that no cars could go through.
After a while, the police opened the street (Chongno) by marching in a forward straight line, but with restraint and without
hitting anyone that I could see. For some reason, after about 30 minutes the police decided to retreat, and one large line of
police started retreating towards Ch'onggyech'on. Thus, they had left the entire intersection of Chonggak open again to the
protesters, without arresting anyone or anything.
As the police were retreating, many protesters started charging at them and actually hitting them with their fists. There was
the usual media frenzy, of course, flashes everywhere and whatnot. The most hilarious part was that the protesters were
actually shrieking "Violent police!" as they were hitting the police! I thought this was just absurdly ironic and nothing else
until I saw that one slight young policeman had been knocked unconscious by the protesters and had to be carried to the
sidewalk and laid down. He was out for a while and eventually regained consciousness (volunteer protest medics and other
police were attending to him), but couldn't stand up, so after waiting about 15 minutes an ambulance finally came and took
him away.
Of course, none of the usual suspects were there to document all this, like Hankyoreh, MBC or KBS. I asked several protesters
why they were complaining about the violent police when they were hitting police first, and they all whined, "The police started
it!" like third graders. Remember: THE POLICE WERE RETREATING when this poor young guy was KNOCKED
UNCONSCIOUS!
2. At about 11pm, the police had prepared to go through the same routine again and open up Chonggak to traffic. They had much
larger forces this time and again opened up the intersection without using clubs or the water cannon, just fire extinguishers a
couple of times as far as I could see. I was standing in front of Boshingak when I noticed that a riot policeman had been pulled
off the line and was being dragged towards Boshingak by a screaming group of protesters. Some yebigun (reservists) and other
protesters were trying to protect him, but several other protesters were rushing forward and getting in cheap shots, despite the
fact that the policeman had lost his helmet and had his arms pinned to his sides.
I was so pissed off after having seen that earlier policeman knocked unconscious that when one chubby young college student
in wire-rimmed glasses, a white polo shirt and white surgical face mask rushed up and tried to hit the captured policeman in the
head -- and from behind no less -- I immediately grabbed one of his backpack straps and yanked him away before the blow
could land. He was quite light and I pulled him several feet from the scrum, but made sure not to actually hit him myself.
When he turned around and looked at me, the expression on his face was priceless. He had prepared this "I'm a poor victim,
what are you doing to me?!" look that instantly morphed into utter confusion and bewilderment, since a foreigner was standing
there glaring at him and he had nothing to say in defense since he had just been trying to hit a defenseless young kid himself.
I was even more disgusted by this little coward when I saw how easily he backed away from me in fear and confusion.
So here again we have another "peaceful" protester trying to attack the "violent" police, and you can almost guess what cliche
he whined at me before slithering back into the crowd: "The police started the violence!"
Right!
3. At about midnight the police had kept the Chonggak intersection open successfully for a while and there were just a couple
hundred protesters milling about the plaza in front of Boshingak yelling "Violent police!" and whatnot as usual. There were
some funny scenes: One young kid was screaming at the police for like 5 minutes so loudly that I thought he had gone insane,
and kept pretending to run up and attack the police before stopping at the last second. The police did nothing, of course, despite
this clear provocation. After a while I saw him sitting down on a rock nearly hyperventilating, and of course a half dozen volunteer
medics rushed over and treated him like some poor victim that had just been brutally assaulted by the police, asking him repeatedly,
"Are you OK? Are you OK?" and taking his temperature and so on.
Another tall guy was holding a white handkerchief to the top of his head and being interviewed by two young female reporters.
They got his name and number and his story about how he had apparently been hit by the police or some such. I noticed that
there was no blood and his eyes looked very sharp and he was certainly in good shape by all appearances, but the reporters
scribbled down his testimony in their notebooks with breathless concern and effusive empathy. After the guy left, I went up to
them and after confirming that they were journalists, I asked them, "If a protester lies to you, how can you know that? How do
you confirm what you're told by them?" They looked totally confused and after a beat or two they replied lamely, "Well, we ask
other people for their stories, too." I certainly hadn't seen them trying to look for witnesses for the story of the guy they had just
interviewed.
Suddenly, there was a big commotion by the metal fence in front of Boshingak. A big chubby ajosshi in a white dress shirt
and wire-rimmed glasses was surrounded by several dozen screaming protesters. They were claiming that he had "attacked"
some poor haraboji, who was nowhere to be found. There was a lot of screaming and yelling at the guy, who was slightly
drunk and had two other friends trying to protect him, one in his thirties and another in his fifties, also in white dress shirts;
apparently they had just been out for a night on the town in Chongno-2-ga. The chubby ajosshi kept saying, "Just go away!"
but the protesters wouldn't, so he calmly pulled out his cellphone, called the police and said very evenly in a low voice, "I'm
in a bit of a dangerous situation here..." As soon as he said that, the protesters went mental and one guy in a pink shirt rushed
up and smacked the ajosshi in the head, breaking his glasses which flew to the ground. Two other guys in red-bandana face
masks were standing behind the fence and also got in two cheap shots to the back of the ajosshi's head. Fortunately, another
one of the protesters blocked the ajosshi and begged for calm. The first guy who had hit the ajosshi was dragged away by
other protesters, practically screaming bloody murder at the ajosshi. A second later, some other young kid also tried to hit
the ajosshi, landing an indirect blow to his chest, but eventually the violence was contained and there was a long discussion
about how the ajosshi needed to "apologize to the haraboji."
So they found the haraboji and the ajosshi got on his knees and begged for forgiveness. The haraboji seemed cool and they
quickly made up, but all the other protesters were standing in a circle around them talking about how the ajosshi had "beat up
this poor haraboji for no reason" and taking endless pictures and videos of this "terrible" man. After a few minutes, the three
guys were allowed to leave since the haraboji seemed placated and the ajosshi seemed genuinely contrite.
I followed them until a safe distance and then got the real story from the three guys (at least, it seemed legit to me). The
ajosshi told me, "I used to be a policeman, and that haraboji was standing in front of the police yelling and trying to hit them.
I was upset because I used to be a policeman, so I went up and tried to separate the haraboji from the police by putting my
arms between them. That's all! Suddenly, the protesters rushed up and claimed that I had 'beaten' that haraboji, but that's
just not true." He concluded, "Those people are crazy! I even lost my glasses!" and then they quickly walked away.
So was he spinning the situation in his favor, had he really "hit" the haraboji? Well, the guy seemed pretty chilled out to me
and had been very calm when he tried to call the police. And would a guilty person have even called the police in the first
place?
Then on the other side, there are the protesters who hit the police themselves even as they are screaming, "Violent police!"
Hmmm... whom to believe? A difficult decision! All I know is that I saw four different protesters hit that ajosshi several times
and he did not even raise a fist once in retaliation. Didn't seem very "violent" to me, and he was quite a big guy, so I can
only say that my gut tells me that he was telling the truth.
Of course, you can be sure that Agora and probably Hankyoreh will have lots of propaganda to milk about how some disgusting
ajosshi had tried to "beat up" a helpless haraboji who was only trying to "fight the dictatorship" and "defend democracy," and
who had been heroically defended by the righteous protesters. Hell, he'll probably get a medal of some sort. And, of course,
you can be sure that there will be no mention of the fact that four different people hit the ajosshi in the face and on the head
and even broke his glasses.
4. As the ajosshi was on his knees apologizing to the haraboji, another ajosshi in a pink polo shirt came up to me and shouted
angrily in perfect English as he wagged his index finger at me, "Do you want to be the next victim?!" Perhaps he had seen me
yank away the earlier protester. I replied calmly in Korean, "Why don't you try demonstrating peacefully?" and of course he had
nothing to say to that. Another protester quickly stood between us and said, "I'm sorry!" to me, but actually I would have loved
it if the ajosshi tried to attack me because then someone might actually believe me when I say what I have been saying all
along: The protesters have started all the violence during these 80-odd demonstrations, and have been intentionally trying to
provoke the police from the get-go. The police, in return, have been so restrained that it is really inexplicable at times. I actually
asked several policemen tonight, "Aren't you angry that one of your buddies was knocked out unconscious?" and they said,
"Of course we are!" So I asked them why they were being so soft on the protesters despite such abuse and they only said,
"Our orders come from the top."
I have sent four emails to Amnesty International detailing exactly the kinds of incidents that I have described here, since their
recent report on "police abuse of human rights" during these demonstrations was clearly biased and was obviously manipulated
by the protesters to their own advantage. Amnesty International, however, has ignored me so far, because apparently they are
unconcerned with the truth. Perhaps they have given it an amnesty for now?
If you are as offended by their unconscionable attitude as I am, feel free to copy the eye-witness report I have written here and
send it to AI in triplicate:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/contact
These dead-enders have clearly gone off the deep-end, knocking police unconscious, attacking ordinary citizens and making
violent threats to local residents like me simply because I do not agree with them.
When will this madness ever end?
Disclaimer: The above photo was taken at 1:25am on 22 June 2008 in Kwanghwamun. It is,
however, representative of events described here, during which time I was without a camera. |
|
Another Saturday Night in Chongno 
[re] Another Saturday Night in Chongno Redux 
