South Korean police yesterday detained 10 activists protesting against a government ban on rallies at a new US$36 million showpiece plaza in the capital.
Gwanghwamun Plaza, featuring new national monuments, pedestrian-friendly boulevards and fountains, opened on Saturday along Seoul’s main avenue Sejongno and has attracted more than 370,000 visitors since then.
The conservative government, which was rocked by months of street protests last summer, has said it will only allow “orderly cultural events” at the landmark that took 15 months to complete.
Dozens of opposition party legislators and members of left-leaning civic groups gathered at the plaza yesterday, calling the ban a blow to civil liberties.
Police detained 10 of them, saying they were staging an illegal rally rather than a news conference as they claimed.
“They are being investigated for holding an illegal rally at a place where unauthorized demonstrations and gatherings are banned,” a Seoul police spokesman said.
The protesters, quoted by Yonhap news agency, said the plaza had not been properly returned to its rightful owners, the public.
“With the ban on legal demonstrations and rallies, the plaza is nothing but a garden belonging to the Seoul Metropolitan Government,” they said.
Last summer’s mass demonstrations were sparked by a decision to resume US beef imports after a suspension because of fears of mad cow disease. Rallies later took on an anti-government tone and sometimes ended in clashes with hundreds of riot police.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
BARRIER BLAME: An aviation expert questioned the location of a solid wall past the end of the runway, saying that it was ‘very bad luck for this particular airplane’ A team of US investigators, including representatives from Boeing, on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea, while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at Muan International Airport before it slammed into a barrier and burst into flames. The plane was seen having engine trouble.
RSS