The South Korean prosecution Monday indicted a civic activist on charges of organizing illegal political demonstrations, bringing to two the number of people indicted so far for spearheading the recent candlelight vigils against the resumption of U.S. beef imports.

Hwang Sun-won, 31, is suspected of organizing late-night protest rallies from May 3 until June 24, prosecutors said. He was arrested on July 2 and currently remains in custody.

Hwang is the second member of an organization spearheading the candlelight vigils to be indicted. Ahn Jin-geol, a visiting professor at Seoul's Sungkonghoe University, was indicted last week on similar charges.

The country allows late-night rallies but strictly prohibits unauthorized political demonstrations. The organizers of the recent candlelight rallies over U.S. beef imports claim the gatherings are cultural events, which do not require prior authorization by the police.

However, the rallies have often become too violent to be called a cultural event. Over 370 police officers have been injured with more than 100 police vehicles damaged or destroyed since the beef protests began in early May, according to the police. Hundreds of protesters are also believed to have been injured.