Seoul, Aug 24 (IANS): Sixteen university students, who attempted to break into the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul on Thursday in protest of Japan's discharge of radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean, were apprehanded.

Despite concerns from neighboring countries and fishing groups in the region.Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant, began releasing the first batch of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean at around 1 p.m. Yonhap news agency reported.

According to the police, the students attempted to enter the Japanese Embassy at around 1 p.m., while chanting slogans against the discharge of the radioactive water.

They initially gathered on the eighth floor of the building where the consular section is located. The embassy space on the ninth through 11th floors can only be accessed through the eighth floor entrance.

The police detained them in four police stations on charges of trespassing and violating the Assembly and Demonstration Act.

After they were apprehended, about 40 fellow students held a press conference in front of the building. The protesters displayed banners and protest posters on the second and eighth floors of the building, voicing their objections against the release of the contaminated water.