Hallelujah followers stage sit-in at SBS

About 1,200 followers of the religious sect Hallelujah Prayer House, located in Pochon, Kyonggi Province, assembled in front of the Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) headquarters in Yoido and staged a protest sit-in, demanding that SBS call off a television program on the sect.

The show, titled "Want to Know It," concerns suspicions of wrongdoing by the sect. The program is scheduled to be televised Dec. 16.

Claiming that the TV program treated the Hallelujah prayer retreat as a heretical sect, the protesters demanded that the broadcasting station apologize and cancel the program. They broke three pieces of window glass of the SBS buildings as they rushed into the station.

The demonstrators came to Seoul on about 20 tourist buses and occupied one of the four-lane roads to SBS, causing traffic jams the whole day. They announced that they would continue to stage a sit-in until SBS offers an apology.

Huh Moon-Myoung angelhuh@donga.com