Asian Correspondent Asia News

It was much worse than it appears. I was standing a few metres away when this was going on. The woman in the photo was actually dragged out of her chair by a group of female police,carried across the street, and unceremoniously dropped on the sidewalk. Her wheel-chair was then brought across and left a good 15-20 feet way from her. Once she managed to get her self upright (with some effort I might add), she crawled across the sidewalk and got back into her chair. All of this with 20+ police watching and no assistance offered.

Meanwhile other demonstrators (all wheel-chair bound) were being boxed in with shields (10-12 policemen per person) while some were being physically restrained (across the chest/around the neck).

This behaviour was not restricted to the Sejong Plaza. Similar tactics were being used all around the Gwanghwamun/Chongno area. The government must of deployed at least 300 police to deal with (by my estimation) 20 wheel-chair bound demonstrators. Obviously a major threat to public order and national security.

It was a disgusting spectacle.

Wait:

1) so police kick these people asses, but cannot handle mad cow protesters…shameful…

2) not a single civilian to help her out ?

Many front-line crowd control officers are military conscripts, so 18 to 22.

Look at how young those police officers are.

…which is exactly why cops in the RoK are jokes. They’re kids dressed up, playing pretend.

And I’d agree with Anonymous above. I wish these guys had been so brave during the beef protests, when people actually deserved to have their skulls caved in.

This is shameful. Of course, the way disabled people here are treated in general is shameful. At my school (and English town), there are 2 floors and no elevator. Whenever we get a disabled kid, he or she has to be carried up and down the stairs. A small indignity perhaps, but indicative of the kind of crap that’ll be facing them their whole lives here. Korea really needs to get on the ball with their treatment of the physically (and mentally) challenged.