By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter

Eleven South Korean farmers were indicted for allegedly staging violent anti-globalization street demonstrations during a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting over the weekend here, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry said on Monday.
The farmers were charged with destruction of public property and assaulting police officers.

Earlier on Monday, Hong Kong police freed an additional 838 South Koreans detained for taking part in the street protests following the release of 150 South Korean women and a child on the same day.

Vice Foreign Minister Lee Kyu-hyung arrived in Hong Kong and met with high-ranking officials, including Commissioner of Police Lee Ming-kwai, to express regret over the violent rallies and appeal for leniency toward the South Korean protesters.

Hong Kong police detained a total of 1,001 South Koreans on Sunday and released 988 of them a day later.

All the detainees are from farmers’ groups, which fear that free trade could have a disastrous impact on their industry due to cheap imports, especially of rice, the ministry said.

In early December, around 100,000 people marched through the streets of Hong Kong to protest the slow pace of democratic reforms.

Hong Kong’s news media described the protests in the Wan Chai area, where the WTO ministerial meeting took place, as a ``riot.’’ Organizers said 7,000 took part in the demonstrations, while police tallied the turnout at 5,000.

During the street rallies, South Korean protesters wielded bamboo poles and other hard objects against armed riot police, who responded by using water cannons and tear gas.

Hong Kong’s law on public order is considered rather strict. People who joined illegal rallies and damage buildings could be sentenced to up to 14 years of imprisonment.

Donald Tsang, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said on Sunday that the demonstrations were ``unacceptable’’ and pledged to prosecute those involved within 48 hours.

Human rights activists in Seoul pointed out Hong Kong policemen’s inhumane treatment of detainees, including strip-searching, forced fingerprinting and cheek-slapping.

It was the largest-scale violence in Hong Kong since the 1967 riots aimed at usurping British colonial rule, Associated Press reported. Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997.

im@koreatimes.co.kr