Stranded During March : Policemen Cornered by Students, Beg for Mercy

About 80 riot policemen knelt on the pavement or huddled in small groups Thursday as they begged for mercy from the screaming students surrounding them.

Enraged protesters hurled rocks at the cowering police from a few feet away. Other students attempted to halt the violence after riot police units were overwhelmed.

“Down with the brutal police!” students shrieked as they hit and kicked the officers. “Destroy the military dictatorship!”

Seoul and other South Korean cities have been racked by clashes between police and protesters over opposition demands for greater democracy and direct presidential elections. The police so far have not carried guns but have relied on tear gas, shields and truncheons.

Demonstrators protesting the use of tear gas surrounded the riot policemen Thursday in the city’s main square in front of the Bank of Korea as savage street fighting surged through the heart of the capital. The police apparently had run out of tear gas as students seized the square and surrounding streets.

Cut off from other police by thousands of charging students armed with firebombs and rocks, the surrounded unit huddled behind their shields as rocks rained down. Some waved to the advancing students to show they did not want to fight.

Students in jeans and T-shirts led the advancing crowds. Some jumped in the air with delight. Others performed little victory dances.

Soon the frightened, bewildered police were surrounded by huge numbers of chanting and jeering students. The police, all conscripts, huddled together on the ground as the crowds pressed closer.

One group of officers sought shelter in the fountain in the center of the square. The water drenched them from head to toe.

Student leaders tried to calm the protesters, holding up their hands and begging people to leave the captured police alone. Some interposed themselves between the huddled police and students hurling rocks at them.

Other students began grabbing at the officers’ equipment. They tore off their helmets and gas masks, yanked away their shields, tear-gas rifles and grenades.

One student held a tear-gas rifle aloft in triumph before savagely beating it on the ground until the barrel was smashed and bent.

Students piled the seized equipment and weaponry in two large piles and set them afire.

The police choked and coughed as clouds of tear gas swirled across the square after students took their gas masks.

With the police cowering in a group, thousands of students suddenly stopped and burst into the Korean national anthem. “Until the East Sea dries up and Paekeu Mountain wears down, long life to our country,” the students roared.

Finally, student leaders prevailed and the frightened policemen were hustled off to safety. Some students patted them on the back or shook hands as signs of friendship.