Missed connection: Me and a rumble

Apparently I was pretty lucky to get to work on Wednesday unscathed. Yesterday, a couple of Swiss guys weren’t so fortunate.

Some of the FTA protestors at Gwanghwamun mistook them for Americans and starting shouting insults, almost leading to physical violence.

Walter, the victim, said one of the young men then started abusing him at him in English, to the point where they almost came to blows. But a university student who was passing dissuaded his assailant. He asked if Walter and his friends were American but added, “Even if you tell them that you aren’t, they won’t believe you,” Walter said. The student advised them to cross over to the other side of the street.

Some commenters at the Marmot’s Hole apparently belive the Swiss guys somehow should have known what was going on and just avoided the area. From my perspective, it would have been very easy to wander into an “anti-American protest” and not even realize it until it’s too late.

Not everyone expects a political protest to serve as cover for assault on innocent people of another ethnicity. I know that Korea isn’t the only place where it can happen, but it is unusual to have people protesting a trade issue decide to randomly visit assault on anyone appearing to be of the nationality you have a dispute with. It’s not like we’re at war, or the U.S. has attacked Seoul. (Not that even that justifies randomly jumping on someone who hasn’t personally done anything to you.)
To be fair, I did receive the message from the U.S. embassy warning Americans to stay away from the City Hall area on Wednesday, and advising that police could “close streets to traffic without warning.” It’s just that in my preoccupation with getting to work and with my day-to-day life, I’d forgotten what day it was. My fault.

However, the street closing definitely also took the bus driver by surprise. The police can’t communicate with the bus system to let them know they can’t run the usual route? He was pretty upset, as were all the other riders who had to get out and walk.

I also had no choice but to walk up the street right past all the protesters getting ready. There’s no other way to go. And, I didn’t realize that I was at protest central until my bus got blocked in from all sides.

I don’t want to seem like I am blowing things out of proportion. There were no Molotov cocktails flying, no cars overturned (that I saw), and no burning and looting. So, it’s calmer than a lot of protests seen in other countries, including the States.

And, as I wrote earlier, no one said a word to me. Maybe it’s because, where I was, everyone was doing a good job of focusing on the protest issue and not on stoking anti-American sentiment.

Maybe it’s because I am a woman, or because, moving pretty quickly, I had already passed by when most people realized the chick under the umbrella wasn’t Korean. But I don’t think the guys from Switzerland wanted to taunt anyone. They might have been interested in the protest and didn’t realize they’d be perceived as the enemy.

I still have to say I admire the country’s support of and tolerance for free speech. From what I’ve heard and read, political demonstrations, strikes and protests are popular forms of expression here.

And, I’d still rather see that, than have the police clear the streets and suppress dissent to put on a good show for world media, as often happens in the States (supposedly the birthplace of freedom of expression).

I’ll just pay more attention to the advance warnings next time.

I’d be interested in hearing anyone else’s experience with anti-American demonstrations (and demonstrators) in Korea, and what they think about it.