Students Battle Police in Seoul

SEOUL — Radicals hurled tear gas grenades and firebombs at a U.S. diplomatic office today, and thousands of students battled riot police to protest the blocking of a march to the North Korean border.

Riot police kicked and punched street vendors in Seoul and threw tear gas to disperse a march by about 1,000 of the merchants, news reports said. The vendors accused authorities of hurting their businesses in efforts to clean up the city for the Olympics. Police and U.S. officials said students tossed three firebombs and two tear gas grenades at the U.S. Information Service building in Taegu before they were seized by police guards firing tear gas.