Published : Jan. 30, 2020 - 16:40
(Yonhap)
Residents of Asan and Jincheon continued on Thursday to protest the government’s plan to use facilities in their towns to quarantine some 700 Korean evacuees from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
The evacuees -- first batch scheduled to be flown out of Wuhan Thursday night -- will be housed at a public officials training center in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, and a police training center in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, for monitoring the symptoms of the respiratory illness that has killed 170 people and infected thousands.
About 30 residents of Asan staged a sit-in overnight in front of the Police Human Resources Development Institute, using tractors and forklifts to block the driveway to the facility.
They yelled at Asan Mayor Oh Se-hyun and Kim Kye-jo, senior official at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, on Wednesday night, but there were no physical clashes.
Police removed the vehicles Thursday morning and persuaded the protesters to leave. About 800 auxiliary police were stationed to prepare against possible clashes.
Some residents set up tents on the sidewalks to continue their protest.
The residents denounced the government for making a “unilateral” decision without prior consultations.
The police training center is located next to a village of more than 400 residents, mostly aged over 75, and near an elementary school and apartment complex.
As for Jincheon, over 17,000 people reside within a radius of 1 kilometer from the National Human Resources Development, with schools and apartment complexes.
Some 800 households reside within just 500 meters from the facility.
Scuffles broke out Wednesday night as some protesters in Jincheon threw water bottles and paper cups at government officials including Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip who visited them to ask for their understanding.
Police placed dozens of vehicles to block the area around the facility, and increased the number of policemen stationed to about 700.
Protesters removed the trucks and tractors from the entrance of the facility Thursday morning upon police warnings that the vehicles will be towed, but dozens continued with their protests.
At around 11 a.m. on Thursday, about 100 residents held a rally against accommodating the evacuees from Wuhan.
Relief and medical supplies for the evacuees were brought to the facility on Thursday.
About 170 of the 708 evacuees from Wuhan will be housed at the facility in Jincheon.
Employees of public institutions near the facilities have been allowed to take a few days off amid rising concerns.
The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation and the Korean Educational Development Institute, which are about 200 meters away from the temporary accommodation for the evacuees in Jincheon, allowed their nonmanagerial staff to stay away from work on Thursday and Friday.
Upon arrival at Gimpo Airport, the Koreans from Wuhan will go through a screening process, and those without symptoms will be transported to the two facilities where they will stay for at least 14 days, the incubation period of the virus.
By Kim So-hyun (
sophie@heraldcorp.com)