South Korean police said on Sunday they had fired water cannon, reportedly for the first time in three years, at protesters in Seoul demonstrating against hundreds of job losses at a major shipyard. Police used the cannon to disperse a crowd of around 800 who were marching across central Seoul towards the headquarters of Hanjin Heavy Industries on Sunday, a police official who declined to be named told AFP.
No one was injured or arrested, he added. "We fired the water cannon after protesters marched beyond police lines and occupied more traffic lanes than allowed, causing a major traffic jam," said the police. TV images showed protesters using umbrellas and banners to shield themselves from the powerful water blast.
The move came after more than 2,500 protesters rallied across downtown Seoul on Saturday night to call for Hanjin to reinstate some 400 workers laid off last year. Many continued the protest with Sunday's rally. More than 9,000 police officers have been deployed since Saturday night to the streets, said the official, adding the protest organisers would face "stern measures" for violating rules. Yonhap news agency said it was the first time the police had deployed water cannon in protests since the nation-wide rallies in the summer of 2008 against the resumption of US beef imports. A spokesman for the rally organisers was not immediately available for comment.
In December, some 900 union members at the shipyard, where 1,200 people were employed, went on strike in protest over the announcement of 400 layoffs by the company, which responded by locking the shipyard.
The protests have drawn widespread public attention as a female activist has staged a sit-in on top of a 35-metre (115-foot) crane at the shipyard since January, demanding the company call off the redundancies.
Kim Jin-Suk has been holed up on the giant structure for more than 200 days, with other strikers supporting her on the ground and supplying the 52-year-old with food and water by rope. For many workers in South Korea, redundancy is considered an economic catastrophe because of weak social safety nets.
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