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Members
of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions shout slogans while raising banners
reading "Better Working Condition" during a May Day rally near the
National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 1, 2015. Thousands of
workers rallied to demand better working conditions and urge companies to stop
using temporary employees. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
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Thousands of South Koreans marched in Seoul on Friday
for a third week to protest government labor policies and the handling of a
ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people a year ago.
Demonstrators occupied
several downtown streets and sporadically clashed with police officers, who
created tight perimeters with their buses to block the marchers. In several
streets, protesters tried to move the buses by pulling ropes they tied near the
vehicles' wheels and police responded by spraying tear gas. There were no
immediate reports of injuries.
Ap reports:
South Korean labor
groups have been denouncing a series of government policies they believe will
reduce wages, job security and retirement benefits for state employees.
"We, the workers,
will succeed in forcing the administration of (President) Park Geun-hye to stop
its repression of labor," Han Sang-goon, president of the Korean
Confederation of Trade Unions, shouted at one of the rallies.
Marches on May 1 are
rooted in labor movements worldwide. The demonstrations in Seoul were joined by
supporters of the ferry victims' relatives who want a more thorough
investigation into the sinking. At an earlier demonstration on April 18, dozens
of people were hurt in a violent clash between police and demonstrators.
The ferry disaster
continues to be a thorny issue for increasingly unpopular Park, despite her
bowing to relatives' demand to proceed with the difficult and potentially
dangerous job of salvaging the vessel. Relatives also want a new investigation
to look into the government's responsibility for the disaster, which was blamed
in part on official incompetence and corruption.
A total of 304 people, most
of them schoolchildren, died when the ferry Sewol sank last year. Nine victims'
bodies have not been found.
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