Police said Sunday they will trace violent demonstrators at a street rally here the previous night that left scores of police officers injured.
“We will run after those who organized the violent rally and acted violently so they could be subjected to legal punishment,” a spokesman for the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said in a news conference.
As many as 74 police officers were wounded, three of them seriously, the spokesman said, adding that 72 police vehicles were damaged and 368 police cameras, walkie-talkies and other equipment were either damaged or stolen.
Police will file a suit against the organizers of the rally to seek financial compensation for the damage, the spokesman said.
Thousands of demonstrators staged a rally at Seoul Plaza in front of Seoul City Hall late Saturday after a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the sinking of the ferry Sewol that claimed 304 lives off the southwest coast.
President Park Geun-hye on Thursday vowed to raise the sunken ferry Sewol as soon as possible and to take all measures to recover the bodies of nine of the victims who remain missing.
Some of the families of the victims, however, insist that the government immediately come up with plans for the salvage of the wreckage.
Police clashed with the demonstrators as they tried to march to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae nearby.
More than 13,000 police were mobilized to blockade the road to Cheong Wa Dae and they used hundreds of trucks and other vehicles to seal off the roads nearby.
Some demonstrators destroyed police vehicles and took out fire extinguishers to spray them against the police.
Several of the police vehicles were turned over by some protesters using ropes.
Police rounded up 100 violent demonstrators, including 20 members of the bereaved families of the ferry sinking.
Nine demonstrators were brought to nearby hospitals for injuries suffered in the clash. (Yonhap)
