Olympic Torch in Seoul~craziness

(If you want, you can view a larger version through YouTube here. Make sure you click on 'watch in high quality' below the video to the right.)

Dear friends,

Well, I can't believe it, but I actually managed to figure out this video problem. Honestly, the learning curve is about 90 degrees...I am clueless about this sort of thing. I am indebted to my dear 'wikiFriend' back in Canada who seems to breathe technological understanding. Thanks also to jotman who left the helpful comment and who has an interesting blog. :)

So here you have it, and you'll be glad I figured out how to edit it, as it was twice this long at the start.

Background info: we were at Olympic Park in Seoul (where the '88 Olympics were held), and where the torch arrived early Sunday afternoon from Japan. The area was swarming with Chinese...many of them are in this country to study. I guess I can understand patriotism, especially when it comes to hosting the Olympics. What I can't understand is the signs saying things like, "Ugly Dalai Lama," and "Tibet has always been and always will be a part of China." Come on.

I really can't understand this crowd of Chinese. Good lord, they're mostly students...aren't they supposed to be well-informed??

Anyway, this video starts about 2 minutes after the torch has already passed by and is on its way into the heart of Seoul. The mob tried to swarm the one tiny truck of protestors who, actually, were not protesting about Tibet (well there was maybe one guy), but rather were protesting China's policy of sending North Korean escapees back to North Korea. A terrible practice, to be sure, since they are certainly being sent back to labour camps, torture, or death. How could these Chinese people, who have access to information here in Korea, ever, ever, turn on these demonstrators, some of whom were North Korean? These are Chinese people in Korea let's not forget. They were even throwing things for god's sake; shit was landing everywhere, though you can't really see it on the video. That's when you hear me say, "I gotta get out of here." Ridiculous.

Kudos to the riot police, who did let me through their line (though I was still stuck there in the middle of it all), and who somehow managed to push the Chinese back. It doesn't come through well on the video, but I had no control over where I was going...the crowd was very strong. It was actually really scary, and since the mob looks pretty tame on the video, I can only imagine what a terror it would be to be in the middle of a truly riotous mob, like those you see on the news. I can easily now understand how people can get seriously injured or killed. Things escalate and get out of hand quickly, and thankfully this situation did not...after about 10 minutes, it was pretty much over.

I'll post more pictures later. xo