South Korea police storm U.S. base protest

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea --Hundreds of police armed with batons stormed a school in South Korea on Thursday to break up a protest against the expansion of a U.S. military base, sparking clashes with the activists.

Police moving behind shields battled with protesters wielding sticks at Pyeongtaek, about 40 miles south of Seoul. Some protesters were seen bleeding from the head, but it was not immediately clear how many injuries occurred.

The operation was aimed at removing protesters from the site so that the U.S. military can expand the nearby Camp Humphreys and move its entire command from the current headquarters in Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul.

South Korea and the U.S. agreed in 2004 on the base relocation and consolidation plan. About 29,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to help defend the Asian country from communist North Korea. The two Koreas remain in a state of conflict as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

About 1,000 villagers and anti-U.S. protesters gathered at the school to demand that the base relocation plan be canceled.

South Korea's YTN cable television network said up to 3,000 police stormed the two-story school. An AP photographer said he saw at least a dozen protesters detained by police.

The South Korean government had failed in previous attempts to evict protesters so that it can start groundwork for the base relocation. The Defense Ministry has had talks to try to persuade villagers to leave in return for financial compensation.

About 680 families in the Pyeongtaek and two nearby areas had originally resisted evacuating their villages, but most agreed to relocate and only about 70 households in the Pyeongtaek area are currently opposed, the ministry said.