Seoul, South Korea — South Korea’s government urged protesters to refrain from taking violent action after police clashed with them in a candle-lit vigil opposing imports of American beef.

“The government understands deeply the public anger over the U.S. beef issue and has taken steps,” Justice Minister Kim Kyung Han said in a televised briefing in Gwacheon. “We are worried about some violent acts and ask the people to refrain from them. The government can’t but take steps to protect law and social order if unrest increases.”

More than 40,000 South Koreans held a candle-lit vigil overnight Saturday in Seoul to oppose the government’s plan to resume American beef imports, Yonhap News reported yesterday. Protesters held the vigil across the street from City Hall and ended their “72- hour rally” yesterday that began Friday.

Demonstrators shouted, “We oppose mad cow beef” and tried to march to the presidential office before being blocked by police over the weekend. More than 1 million people are planning to gather in another candle-lit vigil on Tuesday, Yonhap said.

Police and the protesters threw plastic water bottles and protesters broke the windows of police buses with hammers and steel pipes Saturday night, Yonhap reported.

AntiMadCow, an umbrella organization of South Korean consumer groups, food safety advocates, and student activists concerned about mad cow disease, has been holding daily rallies since President Lee agreed in April to lift a ban on American beef to win support from American lawmakers for a free-trade accord.