South Korean activists, police scuffle during anti-war rally

[Nambe]

SEOUL (AFP)

Anti-war activists scuffled with police near a military airport here during a protest rally against the government's dispatch of South Korean troops to Iraq.

Police briefly detained 20 protesters after exchanging kicks and punches with hundreds of demonstrators attempting to enter the airport, south of Seoul, where troops are usually airlifted to Iraq, officials said.

"No Troop Dispatch," read a picket held by one of 200 anti-war activists blocked from marching to the off-limit airport by shield-carrying police backed by barricades of buses. ..

More than 3,000 South Korean troops are this month being deployed to Arbil, a Kurdish-controlled town in northern Iraq, at the request of the United States.

South Korea, citing safety reasons, has imposed a tight media blackout on the politically sensitive dispatch of troops, the third largest foreign force in Iraq. ..