The Marmot’s Hole

Some 33 very agitated supporters of disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk were detained by police at Seoul National University when they tried to block a car carrying SNU president Jeong Un-chan. The protesters, led by a 48-year-old representative of a group promoting ova donations for stem-cell research, surrounded the SNU president’s car as it arrived at the university, banging on its windows, spitting on it and shouting slogans. In the process, they smashed the camera of a reporter from an unnamed broadcaster. When two middle-aged women tried to sneak under the vehicle, police removed the protesters for their own protection. Later, the demonstrators held sit-down strikes for about two hours in front and in back of the vehicle as it waited in front of the SNU administrative building. It was then that female police moved in to apprehend the protesters. They apparently didn’t go silently, assaulting two reporters from an unnamed broadcaster, putting one of them (the cameraman) in the hospital.
Three of the women reportedly were wanted for questioning for involvement in a February assault on SNU research department director Roh Jung-hye.

Meanwhile, Hwang supporters also tried to break up an academic conference on the Hwang scandal led by the National Association of Professors for Democratic Society being held at SNU. The organizers of the conference had planned to start the conference at 2:00, but three Hwang supporters took control of the podium (and the microphone) and spent about 20 minutes swearing and raising hell. The conference MC ended up canceling his speech and gave the protesters the right to speak. After an impromptu debate between protesters and professors, the Hwang supports left and the conference was restarted in abridged form.
Hwang’s supporters, who dressed in funeral attire for the day’s demonstrations, have denounced Jeong, Roh and others involved in the Hwang investigation as traitors, and claim the former cloning star is the victim of a vast conspiracy led by the United States, which they believe is trying to steal Korean cloning technology.
And if Hwang’s people weren’t having a shitty enough day already, hackers apparently attacked the website of Hwang’s online fan club, an act that would have made me much angrier if the club in question hadn’t earlier engaged in a little cyber-violence of its own. Interestingly enough, police believe it possible that the attack on Hwang’s fan club and the attack on the website of the left-wing student group Hanchongnyeon were carried out by the same individuals.
For some good battle footage from SNU, check out OhMyNews.