South Koreans protest US military waste dump

Seoul, South Korea, July 15— About 1,500 South Korean workers and students protested on Saturday against the dumping of chemicals by US forces into a major Seoul river.

“Apologize for the shameful act,” shouted the demonstrators in front of a US Army garrison in Yongsan, downtown Seoul. “Those who are responsible should be punished!”

The marchers briefly clashed with anti-riot police, who tried to prevent them from moving to the garrison’s main gate.

Some people were beaten by the police, but there were no arrests or serious injuries, witnesses and police said.

The protests followed a day after the US Forces Korea (USFK) admitted to dumping chemicals into the Han River in February. The admission followed a claim by a South Korean environmental group that such an act had taken place. On Thursday, Green Korea United accused the Eighth Army mortuary in the Yongsan garrison of discharging about 228 liters of formaldehyde, a chemical used to prevent decomposition of human remains, into the Han River.

The chemical could cause cancer and birth defects, the environment group said. “Based on our formal investigation, it was determined that a one-time release of formaldehyde in February of this year did occur,” said the USFK in a statement.

“At most 20 gallons of formaldehyde were disposed of through the wastewater sewage system on the Yongsan compound.”

But the USFK said it believed it caused no damage to the environment after a waste treatment and dilution process that the toxic chemicals went through, adding that an investigation was still going on.

Green Korea said the discharge was only the tip of iceberg. Some 100 protesters from Green Korea United on Friday fired water rockets into the US Army garrison, demanding Thomas A. Schwartz, commander-in-chief of the USFK, issue an official apology.

“American soldiers have damaged our environment without mercy since they began to camp here 50 years ago,” the environment group said in a statement.

The USFK has been using formaldehyde, often known as formalin, to embalm the bodies of US servicemen before sending them home, it said.

Early on Saturday morning, about 15 college students threw five bottles of red paint into the compound of the Yongsan garrison to protest the release of the chemicals in the river.

Five students were taken into custody by the police.

The students also demanded the South Korean government revise a pact governing status of American troops stationed in the country.

The United States has said it and South Korea will work together to bring discussions on SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) to a mutually satisfactory conclusion.

SOFA is a bilateral treaty that spells out the rights and responsibilities of US forces in South Korea.

The United States maintains 37,000 troops at more than 90 military bases and installations throughout South Korea.

Source: Reuters

Philadelphia police beating recalls history of brutality

By Brendan Conley

As the city of Philadelphia prepares to enter the national spotlight when the Republican National Convention takes place there in two weeks, the city’s police department has been caught in an act of brutality: the videotaped beating of carjacking suspect Thomas Jones.

Several Philadelphia police officers, in uniform and in plainclothes, kicked and punched Jones after he was pulled from a stolen police car on July 13. The beating was captured on videotape by a helicopter news camera. Jones had exchanged gunfire with the police and led them in a car chase.

The videotape called to mind images of the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles in 1991, but Police Chief John Timoney rejected such comparisons, saying that Jones was armed and resisting arrest.

Some black community leaders denounced the recent beating. Rev. Al Sharpton said the beating “sends a terrible signal as the Republican convention begins in that city.” Philadelphia NAACP President J. Whyatt Mondesire said that the Jones incident “comes out of a history of violence and brutality in this department for over 30 years.”

City officials claimed that the police department has been reformed and that the beating of Jones is an aberration. “We believe that we have made great progress in this city over the years in developing the proper relationship between the members of the Philadelphia Police Department and the people in this city,” said Mayor John Street.

The Philadelphia police department has a long history of brutality and corruption, including one of the most extreme cases of police brutality in US history: the 1985 police bombing of the home of black activists of the MOVE organization, an attack that left 11 MOVE members dead, including five children. Authorities let the fire spread, destroying two city blocks and leaving 250 residents homeless.

Corruption in the department is also at issue in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the black Philadelphia journalist whose tough reporting on the MOVE situation exposed police misconduct. Abu-Jamal is on death row in Pennsylvania, following his conviction for killing a Philadelphia police officer. Police misconduct in the case, including threatening of witnesses, has led human rights organizations to declare Abu-Jamal a political prisoner, and call for a new trial in his case.

In the early 1990s, six Philadelphia police officers pleaded guilty to civil rights violations, robbery, and obstruction of justice, for practices that included planting drugs on suspects and filing false reports. In 1996, a federal consent decree was imposed on the department, requiring monitoring of 12 areas of police activity, including racial bias and strip searches. The consent decree was the result of advocacy by the NAACP and the Police-Barrio Relations Project; the groups claimed that the police used racial profiling in detaining and arresting citizens.

The evidence of brutality is a concern for activist organizations that plan to protest the Republican convention, taking place from July 31 to August 3 in Philadelphia. More than 200 organizations have united in a coalition called Unity 2000, and many of the protesters have vowed to take direct action in the form of nonviolent civil disobedience. Thousands of law enforcement officers, including FBI and Secret Service, will be present to keep the convention from being disrupted.

Several Philadelphia police officials traveled to Seattle and Washington, DC to observe the recent protests against corporate globalization. Those demonstrations were marred by police violence and restriction of civil liberties, tactics that Philadelphia may employ, if the police mobilization leading up to the protests is any indication. Police officials said they are considering re-opening the 99-year-old Holmesburg Prison, famous for its poor conditions that led to a massive inmate riot in 1970. The prison is now used only by filmmakers seeking dungeon-like settings, but may be used to imprison protesters.