Students clash with police

Press, 29 September 1988, Page 43

Students clash with police

NZPA-AFP Seoul Hundreds of students who had threatened to blow up the Seoul Olympics if their leader was not released on Tuesday clashed with riot police outside Korea University yesterday. About 300 students threw petrol bombs at the police, who retaliated with tear gas. Earlier this week the students had demanded the release of their leader, Oh Young-shik, the chairman of the National Student Representatives’ Council. There was no immediate report of injury or arrest during the clash, which lasted for an hour before the protesters withdrew into the campus. Similar but less violent protest was also reported from Kyonghee University in north-eastern Seoul. Oh, who is also Korea University’s student body leader, has been charged with violating the law. The students, wearing red headbands and wielding clubs, vowed to disrupt the Olympic marathon on Sunday, the last day of the 16-day Games, if police did not release Oh. They yelled: "How can you hold peaceful Olympics while arresting democratic leaders?” and “Let’s aim our bayonets at the United States imperialists and fascist President Roh Tae-woo.” Park Jun-pyung, the secretary-general of the ruling Democratic Justice Party, said on Thursday that NBC was provoking South Korean resentment.