Seoul Students, Police Clash at Funeral March

Funeral observances for a dissident student turned violent today as thousands of students burned an American flag, threw gasoline bombs at a U.S. Embassy building and mounted hit-and-run firebomb assaults on riot police in downtown streets.

The domestic Yonhap News Agency, meanwhile, said about 40,000 people participated in rallies and demonstrations around the country to commemorate a bloody 1980 civil uprising in Kwangju, 170 miles south of Seoul.

In Seoul, police said at least 22 protesters were detained for questioning during today’s demonstration.

The students, mourning the suicide of a 25-year-old university student, chanted “down with the dictatorship” and “oust the Americans” in a march through the capital that had a strong anti-U.S. tone. Several Westerners were jostled by the students.

About 8,000 students burned an American flag and attempted to deface the outside of an American Embassy annex housing the U.S. Information Service before police moved in with three mobile tear-gas launching vehicles.

‘Democratic Funeral’

The “People’s Democratic Funeral” was held for Cho Sung Man, a Seoul National University student who hurled himself from the top of a Catholic church building in Seoul last Sunday after calling for the release of all political prisoners.

The procession began in a downtown park early today and was to proceed through the city to Seoul National University and on to the city of Kwangju, 170 miles south of Seoul, where his body was to be buried next to the victims of a 1980 anti-government revolt.

In Kwangju, about 2,000 students at Chonnam University held a rally today to demand a new investigation into the 1980 revolt. They clashed with police when they tried to march to another rally sponsored by dissidents to commemorate the Kwangju incident, witnesses said.

Police fired tear gas to disperse crowds gathered near Kwangju’s main central square, but witnesses said despite that, more than 5,000 people participated in the rally.