SEOUL, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Six people died and more than 20 were injured in a fire that erupted after a police raid on squatters protesting a Seoul redevelopment project, officials said.
Prosecutors and human rights officials said they have launched investigations into the Tuesday morning tragedy, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency, reported.
Seoul prosecutors have sent 20 officials to the four-story building in the Yongsan Ward of central Seoul, where Yonhap said some 40 protesters, mostly small business owners, were occupying the building demanding higher compensation for the forced shut-downs of their stores necessitated by a major urban redevelopment project.
Eyewitnesses told the news agency they saw the rooftop catch fire soon after police reached the protesters using a crane. Police, however, claim the blaze was started by the squatters, who allegedly threw paint thinner and makeshift explosives at police commandos.
Observers said the deaths could provide ammunition for opposition politicians at the confirmation hearing of Kim Seok-ki, the current Seoul police chief, to become the new head of the South Korean National Police Agency.
