S Korea´s police clash with protesters blocking shipment of U.S. beef imports

Source: Xinhua | 06-26-2008 15:41

SEOUL, June 26 (Xinhua) -- At least one person was injured Thursday as police tried to remove protesters who blocked a road to prevent the distribution of U.S. beef stored at a pier in Busan of South Korea, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The clash came as hundreds of South Korean activists and unionists carried out protests to stop the shipment of U.S. beef imports at piers nationwide, after the government issued a legal notice earlier in the day to officially resume the importation of U.S. beef.

"Some 150 protesters occupied the road leading to the pier in the southeastern port city where roughly 3,300 tons of U.S. beef are stored.

At around 10:30 a.m. local time, about one-and-a-half hours after the protest started, police started to remove the demonstrators, but met strong resistance. One civic activist was injured from a fall while struggling with a police officer," the News Agency said.

As of the early afternoon, the majority of the protesters were still blocking the road, surrounded by riot policemen, it said, adding that the protesters argued that the revised agreement fails to effectively address fears of mad cow disease and called for a completely new deal.

The police deployed six riot squads, each with about 80 members, at the pier.

A new deal was reached in April between Seoul and Washington to fully resume the imports that had been halted or highly restricted since 2003, when a case of mad cow disease was found in the United States.

South Korean and U.S. officials revised the April 18 agreement last week in an effort to soothe fears of mad cow disease, saying American beef imports are safe due to an effective inspection system.

Editor:Zhang