October 1, 1995
Web posted at: 1 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT)
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- About 30,000 people demonstrated in South Korea Saturday to demand that two former presidents be prosecuted in connection with a bloody army crackdown on a civilian uprising 15 years ago.
It was the biggest anti-government demonstration in South Korea since the end of authoritarian rule.
The rallies denouncing the government's decision not to indict the former presidents were mostly peaceful. However, witnesses in one location said hundreds of radical students wearing masks threw stones and struggled with riot police. About 15,000 people, mostly university students, marched through Seoul, while 15,000 protesters rallied in 12 other cities, according to a police spokesman.
The protester hold former presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae-woo responsible for a massacre in a pro-democracy revolt in the city of Kwangju in May 1980. The former presidents were army generals at the time. The government says about 200 people were killed in the uprising, but residents of Kwangju put the death toll much higher.
A group of professors, Catholic priests and citizens have collected about 700,000 signatures demanding the prosecution of Doo Hwan and Tae-woo.
RIGA, Latvia (CNN) -- Since the Soviet Union broke up four years ago, the governments of most East European countries have continued to be dominated by socialist or communist parties.
However, the small Baltic state of Latvia may buck that trend. More than a million people began voting Saturday in the second general election since the Republic gained its independence. Control of the 100-seat parliament is up for grabs.
Latvia's Way, the current center-right wing ruling party, is expected to lose some of its 33 seats. On the other hand, two conservative, anti-Russian parties are expected to gain seats, which combined would allow them to emerge with the greatest number of seats.
MORONI, Comoros (CNN) -- A military coup in the Comoros Islands which overthrew President Said Mohamed Djohar on Thursday seemed to be gaining the support as of the local populace. Capt. Combo Ayouba, his forces and rebel mercenaries were reported to be in control of the Indian Ocean island nation on Saturday.
Ayouba was freed Friday in an attack on the jail by mercenaries reportedly led by Frenchman Bob Denard. The 66- year-old Denard is a former mercenary who was involved in four of the islands coups. The crowds demanded Denard's expulsion and burned his photograph, calling him a foreigner. Denard, who has a Comoran wife and citizenship, has been keeping a low public profile. Combo defended Denard, describing him as a Comoran soldier rather than a mercenary.
The Udzima opposition party hailed the coup. They praised the release of military and civilian political prisoners and have backed Combo's stated aim of handing power to an interim president before free elections in 1996.
Diplomatic sources said Djohar, who has survived several coup attempts, had grown increasingly unpopular because of his failure to organize fair elections.
The Comoros have undergone 17 coup attempts since gaining independence from France in 1975.
ALGIERS, Algeria (CNN) -- A 2-year old was killed and 11 people suffered minor wounds when leaking gas caused an explosion in a building in central Algiers on Saturday.
Reports said that the blast ripped through the fifth floor of an apartment building in Khaled Atout Street, causing "extensive damage" to two apartments.
Many people panicked, fearing the blast was caused by a bomb. In the last three months, more than 40 people have been killed by terrorist bombings blamed on Islamic extremists.
(CNN) -- A tropical storm warning was in effect Saturday for the northeastern part of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Tropical storm Opal was packing maximum sustained winds of 50 mph as it rolled across the Gulf of Mexico.
Opal is the 15th named storm of the season -- the highest number ever, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters said Opal could threaten Louisiana and Texas as it continues north.
SRINAGAR, India (CNN)-- Residents in Srinagar, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, joined a day-long strike to protest the deaths of thousands of people in a five-year old separatist revolt. The protest closed shops and businesses all day Friday.
While the strike was underway, a grenade exploded in Srinagar's commercial district. There are no reports of casualties.
On the outskirts of Srinagar, armed Indian police continue to patrol outside Kashmir's holiest shrine, the Hazratbal mosque.
Authorities have denied the step-up in security has anything to do with reports that armed militants have taken over the mosque. Armed rebels did take over the shrine about two years ago and managed to hold security forces off for weeks before surrendering.
NEW DELHI, India (CNN)--A security slip in India has reportedly forced Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to cancel a scheduled visit to the city of Bangalore.
The Hindustan Times, quoting police officials, says the Sunday trip was canceled after the itinerary and security arrangements of Mr. Rao's visit were accidentally sent by fax to an architect in New Delhi. The fax had been intended for an officer in India's special protection group, the security force responsible for guarding top Indian officials and their families.
JERUSALEM, Israel (CNN)--Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is criticizing some American Jewish leaders who oppose Israel's withdrawal from parts of the West Bank.
While meeting with about 200 Jewish leaders Friday in Washington, Rabin said they should be ashamed of being more concerned about 140 Jewish families in Hebron than about hundreds of thousands of new immigrants being settled in Israel.
Most of Hebron will be handed over to the PLO, under the peace accord signed Thursday.
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