AFX European Focus | December 29, 2003
Thousands of farmers took to the streets here to protest at a free trade agreement with Chile, urging parliament not to ratify the accord signed 10 months ago, witnesses said.
A crowd of some 5,000 farmers chanted slogans and waved banners as they rallied on an empty construction site, some 500 meters (yards) away from the National Assembly.
A matching number of riot police troops carrying shields and sticks barricaded themselves behind rows of police buses to prevent the farmers from marching toward the National Assembly.
"No to FTA," they chanted in reference to the free trade agreement with Chile.
The National Assembly's trade committee approved the agreement on Friday and the final ratification was suppposed to come Monday or Tuesday at a plenary session.
The National Alliance of Farmers said it would hold a night vigil near the National Assembly to prevent the parliament from ratifying it.
"We ask the government and parliament. Have you decided to give up our agriculture?" a spokesman for the alliance said in a statement.
South Korea signed its first free trade agreement with Chile in February but its ratification has been delayed amid protests from local farmers.AFX European Focus:
