Hanchongnyon kiddies take note: THIS is how to riot

(NOTE: There is another post about the big riots at Incestuous Amplification. It has a couple of good pics and this link to Ohmynews coverage of the riots. Just click on the first TV graphic at Ohmynews to see videos of the riots. And be sure to check out the stuff at IA.)

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At 11:00 AM today, about 900-1,500 anti-Iraq protesters held a rally in front of the National Assmebly building. Now, in Korea you can get a thousand or two people to show up to protest almost anything. So this might be a sign that the anti-Iraq protest movement is losing steam.

On the other hand, about 20,000 angry farmers came to Yoido (the island in the middle of the Han river where the National Assembly building is located) later to protest against a free trade agreement with Chile and promptly started to dance with the riot police. My girlfriend (who is talking classes on another part of the island) called me and said that I might want to come up and check things out. She said that the farmers and riot policemen were pretty friendly as they went in and came out of a nearby public restroom together.

But I knew better. It doesn't matter how folks are acting at 1:00. By 4:00 they'll be bashing each other over the head and I certainly wouldn't want to be the white boy caught in the middle of that. That is especially true of farmer protests. When those guys riot, its like they're strung out on PCP or something: They don't stop until someone is bleeding.

So I missed my chance to get some exclusive coverage of the riot. That's OK: I'll just yank some pics from Lee Jae-Won at Reuters (NOTE: If I ever make money from this blog I'll send some to Mr Lee) (NOTE 2: Props to Lee. He took some killer pics).

OK, here we go:

Here they come.

"Yeah, you better get that sh*t outta here!"

"Wait a minute. This isn't right."

"Run away! Run away!

"Plan A didn't work out so well. I think I'll just hide behind the bus and throw stuff."

"Man the ramparts!" This pic reminds me of the Battle of Helms Deep in the Two Towers. The riot police often use their buses as barriers.

"That's all you got?"

Now, this is just a bad idea.

A better idea. They have pikes! Remember kiddies, a good rioter comes prepared for anything.

I have to admit that I usually have more sympathy for the riot police kids in these situations. All they want to do is hang out around their bus, studying and eating ramyeon until their two-years are up. On the other hand, their job is usually a lot easier than the poor kids who have to patrol the DMZ all winter.

UPDATE: This pic from the Korea Times shows that the farmers took the fight well into the evening.

Not to be outdone, Kim Kyung-Hoon of Reuters took this pic of a rioter pushing a burning cart towards the police. Another bad idea.

It's 10:30 now. They might still be going at it.

(UPDATE: It's 11:20. Lady Yangban was getting out of class on another part of the island late this afternoon. She said that she saw smoke and flames and that a helecopter flew over her.) I hope she will post something on it at her blog tomorrow.

Comments

[Christopher]

A+ on the captions my friend.

[Neil]

Great post on the riot. I've been here a year now and haven't seen one yet. But yeah, I always feel a little sympathetic to the riot cops just doing there service. Most of them around Gwanghwamun always look like they should still be in high school or something.

[Paul Eckert]

I passed on your compliments to our photographers at Reuters Seoul. They are both soft-spoken and mild-mannered yet courageous pros who always find themselves in the thick of things and have great crowd sense. Kim Kyung-hoon came in bandaged today after taking a pelting by stones on his forearm. Our TV crew had the windows of its car smashed out in the melee. Thanks for mentioning them by name.

[Freedom Fighter]

RIOT! You want a revolution? DO IT! I wish i saw some of this great riot stuff on the news! Keep it up!