OUCHY! - PART 2A Riot Over Beef Hurt My Face
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY ROBERT JOHNSON
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I didn’t see what exactly happened to this guy. His arm was broken, but I’m not sure how.
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Around midnight about 600 police rushed the crowd from a side street, pouring through a small opening in the line of buses that had been set up to contain the crowds. They were swinging their batons and shields at anything and everything in their way. As far as I know there was no warning. They cleared most of the street except for maybe 70 people who got cut off in the middle. About 30 riot police were caught in that crowd too and there was a huge fight. The riot police lost, badly. They ended up huddling in a mass, being beaten and dragged away one at a time. But then a second wave of police came, and that’s when my head got smashed in.
Historically, the South Korean police have a reputation for violence. In 1980, during massive national protests for democratic reform, the military riot police violently suppressed an uprising in Kwangju, a town in the south of the peninsula. They killed an estimated 170 people, arbitrarily beating up anyone they came across. Although the regimes have changed over time, the Korean police have been notoriously violent toward any type of opposition. This is the main reason so many people are still protesting. They feel that President Lee’s policies are too similar to those of previous, non-democratic leaders.
I’m certainly on the side of the protesters. The Korean people have a right to demonstrate. It is a democracy, after all. The police were regularly excessive. On one occasion I was almost hit with an open bottle of piss that they threw at the crowd. It sounds ridiculous, but keep in mind military service is mandatory in Korea, so the riot police are just 17- to 24-year-old guys, not a crack force of career law enforcers. There is really low discipline in their ranks. I saw them fighting among themselves while they were supposed to be fighting demonstrators—actually physically fighting, not arguing.
At times it seemed like some of them didn’t give a fuck about what they were doing. Throwing pipes at the protesters from over buses, beating a girl who was curled up and hiding under a bus, hitting me in the face with a shield. They were pretty out of control. It was a bit like a government-sanctioned army of angry teenagers looking for a fight.
The police, however, were pretty good to photographers, at least initially. Early on I could go behind their lines and take photos without any problem. But as the protests continued they became less friendly. One photographer took a picture of an officer who had sharpened the bottom of his shield; his camera got smashed and he was beaten and arrested. I also saw a news cameraman get hit with a baton while standing on a small ladder.
The protests are still going on. It’s not clear if or when they will be resolved. Fewer people are on the streets now, but there have been labor strikes, and religious organizations are getting involved. I think the rallies will become more low-key and guerrilla. Unless President Lee does something to calm the people, they will erupt again. Next time I’m totally staying out of it though because I still get splitting headaches.
OUCHY! | 1 | 2 |
See all articles by this contributor Anonymous, on Sep 14, 2008 wrote:
"I traveled around the world last year, and you know what I learned? It hates each other." I can’t recall where I read this very old quote, but it is very true. | | Anonymous, on Sep 8, 2008 wrote:
Great job! | | Anonymous, on Sep 6, 2008 wrote:
A recent article in the Korea Times (I can’t be bothered to look it up now) cited a government official as estimating $6 billion in damages, taking into account physical damage, security costs, and economic ramifications. True dude has an agenda, but no doubt there was a lotta cheese lost.
As has also been reported in local newspapers, leaders of various leftist political parties are being arrested for emailing false information to people about the dangers of U.S. beef and encouraging people to use increasingly violent tactics (at an early rally one of the leaders stood on a stage and urged everyone to march to the President’s house (the Korean White House)). A half-dozen guys from these parties just got busted for throwing hydrochloric acid at cops. Those thousands of middle school girls who came out with candles some of whom were quoted as saying they thought U.S. beef would kill them didn’t know about trade concessions. The people here behaved like idiots and the funny/ironic thing is now U.S. beef shipments can’t keep up with demand. | | Anonymous, on Sep 6, 2008 wrote:
The interesting aspect of Paglen’s work is that the covert nature of his photographs act as a metaphor for the act of making art in general. Art is a nonfunctional functioning element in society in as far as the mere act of making art serves as a cathartic voice in a culture tuned in to much more practical structures (think TV-advertising). His photographs are not merely blurry redo’s, but meditations on what it means to take part in the culture itself. This is obvious when you think about the cultural apparatus that supports an environment that sustains art at all. Or rather, the dialog of art. Don’t get it? Try googling "Pol Pot" and get a glimpse of latter 70’s Cambodian art/culture/etc...
Basically, this guy is obfuscating the obvious which is obfuscated. | | Anonymous, on Sep 5, 2008 wrote:
I don’t like it when artists justify work by citing some trendy code shits like vocabulary and the limits of seeing. It just seems like smoke and mirrors. What kind of new vocabulary is this bringing? what does it really have to do with seeing when its commenting on light capture technology, not perception? It just looks like a lot of other fuzzy photos of shit. The artists method is pretty fucking sweet though, giving people the ability to spy on the military. He should definitely publish some technical instructions. It feels good to masturbate all over the internet. | | Anonymous, on Sep 5, 2008 wrote:
It’s art dick wad. If you don’t see the point, you’re not having any fun... obviously. | | Anonymous, on Sep 5, 2008 wrote:
ooh, black chopper! How ’bout some chopper? | | Anonymous, on Sep 5, 2008 wrote:
This is so lame! Here are some phucked up photos of hangers and aircraft. WOW! I hope they "accidentally" drop a 500lb bomb on this guy while he sneaks around our military installations with high power optics.
What the heck is the point? | | Anonymous, on Sep 5, 2008 wrote:
yeah me too. good piece, by the way. secret places will always be interesting. | | Anonymous, on Sep 5, 2008 wrote:
I am sure that your experience with the protests is somewhat valid, but false on a number of fronts.
The protests were a clearly nationalistic bid to counter the president’s concessions to Washington. Even if it were true, why would it be strange for political parties to take part in such a purely political event? Also, organization is too strong of a term for what happened. I would say that the protests would have been much better off with even minimal organization by politcal parties. It would have certainly cut down on the damage.
Billions of dollars in damage, though? Really? That sounds kind of dubious. . . | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2008 wrote:
I live in Korea and saw what jackasses these protesters were. Don’t even make them out to be some kind of freedom fighters. These riots were organized by professional political parties trying to advance their own causes by spreading lies. Imagine thousands of people causing billions of dollars in damage for some cause that has lead to ZERO deaths. There are real problems in the world. These guys deserved more than water guns. | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2008 wrote:
Excellent work, very real photos. | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2008 wrote:
yeah show us the black helicopter | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2008 wrote:
and as always, you people’s comments are properly retarded | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2008 wrote:
I want to see the black helicopter. I like cliches. | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2008 wrote:
that’ll teach you for still using film you old school fuck | | Anonymous, on Sep 3, 2008 wrote:
It mght be xenophobic to describe Korea and Koreans as xenophobic, but it’s also true. | | Anonymous, on Sep 3, 2008 wrote:
adjective verb preposition xenophobia xenophobia 2nd preposition xenophobia. | | Anonymous, on Sep 3, 2008 wrote:
I know that mother fucker, he still goes. he has no splitting head aches. dont talk shit vice . . . | |
| A Taipan, on Sep 3, 2008 wrote:
Impressive employment of xenophobia, while decrying xenophobia. Awesome. Though I can agree that people are getting soft, all of these "safety measures" are in fact weakening the gene pool. I mean it’s survival of the fittest. | | Anonymous, on Sep 3, 2008 wrote:
LOLOLOLOL SO IRONIC!1!!1one! XD you should write for vice | | Anonymous, on Sep 3, 2008 wrote:
Stupid gooks. I want them to bring US beef back - the Korean stuff is so expensive. No-one even died! Loads of people died in England, and we kept munchin’ our salmonella burgers. This kind of xenophobic, point-missing overreaction is typical of this stupid country. | | |
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