SEOUL, Dec 14: Tens of thousands of people carrying candles descended on the US embassy here Saturday to protest what they considered was an inadequate US response to the deaths of two schoolgirls crushed by a US military vehicle in June.

Regular protests have rocked Seoul for a month as the anti-US sentiment sparked by a US court martial’s decision to acquit two soldiers on charges of negligent homicide in the incident has reached a near boiling point.

On Saturday, an intersection near the US embassy was awash in flickering candlelight, the tapers borne aloft by an estimated crowd of 50,000 people who booed and shouted slogans.

“Bring Mi-sun and Hyo-soon back to life,” the crowd chanted, interspersing inspiring songs led by Yoon Do-Hyun, who composed a fight song for the recent football World Cup here.

Protesters also gathered in front of city hall, where student radicals shredded eight giant US flags. Slogans were also chanted that urged changes to the controversial Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which regulates relations with the 37,000 US troops stationed in South Korea and allows US authorities jurisdiction over crimes committed by American soldiers in the line of duty.

Some demanded the outright withdrawal of all US troops.

Organizers said Saturday’s rallies were the biggest so far, as the anti-US sentiment that was once largely confined to radical student groups had infected mainstream South Koreans, including star athletes, movie stars and musicians.

Police mobilized 15,000 riot-trained troops clad in protective gear and carrying shields to control the largely-peaceful crowd, creating a human ring around the high-walled embassy that was also protected by bumper-to-bumper police buses.

Activists have hurled Molotov cocktails in the wave of protests leading up to Saturday’s event, and have rushed the security lines to force their way onto US military bases. But no incidents were reported Saturday.

In the southeastern city of Daegu, two students wrapped in the national flag scaled the wall of a US military base and climbed up to a giant water tank to chant their anti-US slogan, footage broadcast on television showed.

A phone call Friday with South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung in which US President George W. Bush voiced his “deep personal sadness” — the first time the US president made direct reference to the deaths of the girls — did little ease the growing anti-US sentiment in what had been one of Washington’s strongest Asian allies.

US Ambassador to Seoul Thomas Hubbard had earlier conveyed Bush’s regret over the tragedy.

“We cannot accept it as a direct apology to the Korean people. We demand him to apologize in the capacity of the US president instead of whispering personal sadness on the phone,” said Chai Hee-Byeong, secretary general of an umbrella group of civic activists.

Chai said Bush sidestepped the issue of a controversial accord governing the status of the 37,000 US troops stationed in South Korea, offering only a vague promise to work closely with Seoul to prevent such accidents in the future.—AFP