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SEOUL: South Korean police detained 70 anti-US beef protesters in fresh clashes early on Monday, taking the total arrested to more than 500 in days of intensifying rallies.
Shield-carrying riot police set off hand-held fire extinguishers to disperse thousands of protesters for the second night running after similar scenes late on Saturday and Sunday morning.
Daily protests escalated over the weekend with tens of thousands joining a candlelit vigil on Saturday which degenerated into violence as thousands of hardcore activists tried to march on the presidential office.
A Seoul police spokesman told AFP the latest arrests brought the total number of arrests to 545 since May 24.
Police have released 224 protesters and brought 21 to a summary court for violence offences, with the rest under interrogation. No serious injuries have been reported.
Seoul agreed in April to lift its intermittent ban on US beef imports, which was first imposed in December 2003 over mad cow disease. American beef is expected to go on sale here this or next week.
But opponents claim the government has not secured safeguards against the alleged dangers posed by the human form of the illness.
The resumption of US beef imports was a pre-condition for Washington's approval of a free trade agreement with South Korea, which some analysts say could boost annual trade between the two nations by 20 billion US dollars.
However, South Korea's parliament failed to ratify the free trade deal before the legislature's four-year term expired Thursday.
The demonstrations grew on Thursday as Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-Chun unveiled new rules on imports and for the inspection of US beef. - AFP/ac
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