December 24, 2024
SEOUL – The nationwide demonstrations against President Yoon Suk Yeol garnered an unusual ally last weekend, when some 30 tractors, driven by farmers from all across the country, joined protestors in Seoul after their grueling two-day march to the presidential office.
That march included an all-night standoff with the police, who barred their way to Seoul, during which civic groups and other protesters gathered to support the farmers.
The coalition of farmers groups, calling themselves the “Jeon Bong-jun Protest Group” after a 19th-century farmer who led an armed revolt against corrupt officials, held their protest near Yoon’s office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on Sunday.
They held a demonstration across three lanes in front of the Hanjangjin Station, participants of which were estimated to be around 3,000 by the police and 10,000 by the demonstrators.
“We’ve brought the tractors to Yoon Suk Yeol’s feet. … This victory was made possible thanks to the all-night protest,” said Lee Chun-seon, the leader of the Korean Women Peasants Association that took part in the march.
Ha Won-oh, the leader of the Korean Peasants League, thanked the citizens for standing with them in the standoff against the police in southern Seoul, which lasted throughout the night between Saturday and Sunday.
Farmers associated with multiple agricultural groups took some 30 tractors and 50 trucks from rural areas in South Jeolla Province and South Gyeongsang Province, starting their march on Dec.16. They gathered in frong of the government complex in Sejong city on Thursday, and planned to participate in an anti-Yoon protest in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul on Saturday.
But the police formed a blockade against the vehicles at around Saturday noon near the Namtaeryeong Pass in Seocho-gu, Seoul, citing concern for the citizens’ inconvenience over traffic jam. This led to 28-hour standoff between the police and the farmers, which was joined by civic groups who demanded that the police open a path for the tractor protestors.
Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Friday had notified the farmers that they could not use the tractors and trucks in their Seoul protests, which the police had also done for the farmers’ protest during the 2016 protests for then-President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment.
The farmers’ group has been protesting Yoon administration’s continued veto on revision of the Grain Management Act, which the acting President Han Duck-soo vetoed last week. The law revision would have lowered the bar for government intervention in shoring up rice prices.
An unconfirmed number of citizens were hospitalized due to medical conditions such as hypothermia, and two were taken in by the police for obstruction of public duties.
The night-long protest was broadcast nationwide via various social media accounts and YouTubers. It was followed by a 2 p.m. demonstration on Sunday in which participants — the estimated number ranging from 4,000 (according to police) to 30,000 (protesters) — joined the calls against Yoon.
The police eventually ended the blockade at around 4:40 p.m., after which 13 tractors went to join the protest against the president. The tractors arrived on the scene at around 6:45 p.m.
President Yoon is being investigated for charges of insurrection and abuse of power concerning his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law, and is also facing impeachment trial.