South Korean police on 16 April attacked a peaceful rally of more than 10,000 people in Seoul as they marked the one year anniversary of the Sewol Ferry disaster, which resulted in the deaths of 304 passengers, the majority of whom were high school students.

The protest, led by grieving families, was against the right wing Park Geun-hye government’s inept handling of the disaster and its attempts to stonewall an independent investigation into the sinking of the ferry.

More than 13,700 police officers attacked the protest and used 470 vehicles to completely wall off Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, where the families had been staging a tent protest for the previous week. Police used water cannons, tear gas and pepper spray against the unarmed protesters. Hundreds were beaten and arrested, with many sustaining broken bones and other injuries.

According to the left-leaning South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh, the police attack on the demonstration was a “grim scene that evoke[d] the days before democratisation”. Hankyoreh’s 20 April editorial went on to note that Park’s government has tried to suppress justified appeals for truth: “The same government that did such a poor job of rescuing passengers on the ferry is wielding a terrible power as it tramples on the grief of the victims’ families and other South Koreans.”

Amnesty International, which has been monitoring the Park government’s increasing authoritarian and undemocratic actions, noted the “unnecessary use of force”, which was “an insult to the victims and a violation of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly”.

The disaster exposed the stark reality of both neoliberal economics and the depth of crony capitalism in South Korea. Under the 2008-13 government of Lee Myung-bak, the shipping industry was deregulated, resulting in a rise in unsafe practices as deregulation extended ferry service periods from 20 to 30 years, allowing older ships like the Sewol to continue operating.

Deregulation also resulted in the rise of crony capitalism, with widespread corruption and back-door deals between government officials and the shipping sector. At the time of its sinking, the Sewol was carrying an unsecured cargo almost three times its official limit. According to investigations carried out in the aftermath of the sinking, the Sewol had carried excess cargo on its Incheon-Jeju route 139 times, resulting in almost $3 million in extra profits for the owner of the ferry, Chonghaejin Marine Company.

Chonghaejin Marine CEO Kim Han-sik has been found guilty of violating maritime safety laws, embezzling company funds and taking bribes from subcontractors. He has been sentenced to 10 years’ jail for involuntary manslaughter in relation to the sinking. Four other officials from the company have been sentenced to between three and six years’ jail on similar charges.

By contrast, crew of the Sewol, who abandoned the ship while it was sinking, have received much longer sentences. Lee Joon-seok, the captain, was sentenced to 36 years. The ship’s engineer was sentenced to 30 years. Thirteen other crew members received 20-year sentences.

Lee and 19 others of the 33 crew were irregular (casual) workers, who had little or no job security and worked for reduced wages under poor working conditions. Irregular workers make up 45 percent of South Korea’s workforce.

The International Transport Federation had denounced Lee’s sentencing as “excessive and unjust”, arguing that “the judgement is based more on emotion and the need to find someone to blame than justice”. Spokesperson David Heindel stated: “The sentencing of the captain and the other seafarers is too severe and does not take into account the actions or lack of actions by others in the industry.”

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which participated in the anniversary protests, at the time of the tragedy argued that the root cause of the sinking was crony capitalism. The KCTU noted that capitalist greed and government corruption had resulted in “excessive deregulations, privatisation of public transport and emergency services, the use of precarious work arrangements and the corrupt appointment of officials in oversight agencies”.