By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Participants in candlelit rallies are showing signs of fatigue after protesting for more than 40 days against the resumption of U.S. beef imports.
The number of daily demonstrators is falling to just thousands after reaching a climax of 500,000 on June 10.
Some analysts believe it will be difficult to get such numbers out again for the protests, while others say the current slowdown is only a brief recess in preparation for other moves.
``It's like citizens have been running forward so fast for over a month,'' said Kim Ho-ki, professor at Yonsei University. ``Of course, we need to see what will happen next. But I think they are taking a pause to prepare for a new round.''
The fire was first lit on May 2 by schoolgirls regarding the safety of U.S. beef, with candlelit protests becoming a nightly ritual, and attracting all walks of life to central Seoul ― students, workers, parents with children along with regular activists.
The main motive was to call for the renegotiation of the beef import deal, but various civic groups joined the rally, adding other policies of President Lee Myung-bak, such as the privatization of public firms, his English education policy and the inland canal project to their list of gripes.
Kim expects the new direction of the rallies will depend on government countermeasures, ``Protestors will be split over the countermeasures to each issue and more people will leave the protests once they are satisfied with the government's solutions.''
As the candlelit protests started to show signs of recess, the coalition of civic groups which organized the massive street rallies has become desperate to stay on course.
``The coalition now plans to make the candlelit protests a regular event with different policy themes each day, with greater focus on the weekend's rally to allow more citizens to participate,'' a spokesperson for the coalition said.
The coalition protested the privatization of public broadcasting companies on Monday and the inland canal project on Tuesday. They will hold a rally against the privatization of the medical insurance system on Thursday.
Over the weekend, the coalition plans to hold another relay rally, and will decide Friday whether to go ahead with a full-fledged campaign to bring down Lee if his government fails to relieve public worries on various policies.
But its official Web site has started to receive criticism over ``too many political issues'' during the candlelit protests and many demand the rally should focus on the beef issue.
``The original theme should be protected. I hope everyone knows that,'' an Internet user with the ID 'marin' said on the Web site.
Professor Bak Hee-je from Kyunghee University said that various political issues dealt with in the protests are some of the reasons that citizens have turned away from the rally.
``It is a transition period, definitely,'' Bak said. ``Those who don't want to deal with political issues may have left the scene. They're now waiting to see what the government will offer. But if the government comes up with a lukewarm stance again, they will come back to the streets.''
e3dward@koreatimes.co.kr
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