This is the last in a two-part series on street rallies, focusing on the role of police to root out violence in protests. -- ED
By Jhoo Dong-chan
To keep street rallies peaceful, police have been urged to refrain from excessive use of force against demonstrators.
Their use of water cannons and setting up barricades with police buses has long been controversial.
Protesters say such "excessive" use of authority provokes demonstrators to violence, while police claim it is necessary to control some demonstrators with steel pipes and bamboo sticks.
Many believe that the police crackdown on protesters and the authorities' disapproval of demonstrations has gotten tougher after President Park Geun-hye was inaugurated.
After unidentified protesters clashed with police during the Nov. 14 demonstration, Park compared masked protesters to Islamic State (IS) terrorists, vowing to stop demonstrators from wearing masks to cover their faces.
A day after Park's remarks, the ruling Saenuri Party started the legislative process to pass an anti-mask law to punish masked protesters with prison terms or fines.
The move drew a backlash from various groups, and not just from those involved in the protest.
Alastair Gale, Seoul bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, left a twitter post reading "South Korea's president compares local protesters in masks to ISIS. Really." Gale's tweet has been retweeted some 3,300 times.
Police had also initially planned to ban the second massive rally slated for Dec. 5, saying the rally was highly likely to turn violent like the first one, although the organizers promised a peaceful gathering. But the Seoul Administrative Court ruled the ban was improper, allowing the rally to take place. As it turned out, the second rally was peaceful.
"The government still believes that such demonstrations are a challenge to the authority," Konkuk University Prof. Han Sang-hee said.
"If Korea is a truly a democratic country, the government should guarantee people's rights of expression and assembly as much as possible.
However, police deployed police buses and water cannons before the rally started on Nov. 14. Courts ruled that it was improper for police to use such force to obstruct a rally if the rally was legitimately reported to authorities in advance."
Han, who was a human rights committee member of the National Police Agency (NPA), resigned from the committee after the Nov. 14 rally in protest of the excessive use of force by the police.
Baekseok University Prof. Kim Sang-gyun also said it is undesirable for the government to strengthen regulations on demonstrations. "According to the Constitution, people can hold demonstrations and assemblies with a prior report to the police, not prior approval, and the government should accept that."
But police say that violence is often inevitable.
"We urged the organizers to maintain order and abide by the law before the Nov. 14 rally, but some 70,000 people were planning to march toward Cheong Wa Dae, so we had to set up the bus barricade," an official from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said.
"The protesters prepared pipes, wooden sticks and bricks to beat police, and some attempted to set fire to the buses. More than 110 police officers were injured and 50 buses were destroyed," he said.
On Dec. 5, the second rally ended peacefully without any clashes between protesters and police. Although a number of protesters wore playful masks to protest against the President's IS remarks, police did not crack down on them.
"No need to barricade police buses or deploy water cannons if a rally proceeds peacefully as planned," said Human rights Prof. Jang Sung-jin of Howon University.
"The Dec. 5 demonstration was an exemplary rally for both sides."
By Jhoo Dong-chan
To keep street rallies peaceful, police have been urged to refrain from excessive use of force against demonstrators.
Their use of water cannons and setting up barricades with police buses has long been controversial.
Protesters say such "excessive" use of authority provokes demonstrators to violence, while police claim it is necessary to control some demonstrators with steel pipes and bamboo sticks.
Many believe that the police crackdown on protesters and the authorities' disapproval of demonstrations has gotten tougher after President Park Geun-hye was inaugurated.
After unidentified protesters clashed with police during the Nov. 14 demonstration, Park compared masked protesters to Islamic State (IS) terrorists, vowing to stop demonstrators from wearing masks to cover their faces.
A day after Park's remarks, the ruling Saenuri Party started the legislative process to pass an anti-mask law to punish masked protesters with prison terms or fines.
The move drew a backlash from various groups, and not just from those involved in the protest.
Alastair Gale, Seoul bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, left a twitter post reading "South Korea's president compares local protesters in masks to ISIS. Really." Gale's tweet has been retweeted some 3,300 times.
Police had also initially planned to ban the second massive rally slated for Dec. 5, saying the rally was highly likely to turn violent like the first one, although the organizers promised a peaceful gathering. But the Seoul Administrative Court ruled the ban was improper, allowing the rally to take place. As it turned out, the second rally was peaceful.
"The government still believes that such demonstrations are a challenge to the authority," Konkuk University Prof. Han Sang-hee said.
"If Korea is a truly a democratic country, the government should guarantee people's rights of expression and assembly as much as possible.
However, police deployed police buses and water cannons before the rally started on Nov. 14. Courts ruled that it was improper for police to use such force to obstruct a rally if the rally was legitimately reported to authorities in advance."
Han, who was a human rights committee member of the National Police Agency (NPA), resigned from the committee after the Nov. 14 rally in protest of the excessive use of force by the police.
Baekseok University Prof. Kim Sang-gyun also said it is undesirable for the government to strengthen regulations on demonstrations. "According to the Constitution, people can hold demonstrations and assemblies with a prior report to the police, not prior approval, and the government should accept that."
But police say that violence is often inevitable.
"We urged the organizers to maintain order and abide by the law before the Nov. 14 rally, but some 70,000 people were planning to march toward Cheong Wa Dae, so we had to set up the bus barricade," an official from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said.
"The protesters prepared pipes, wooden sticks and bricks to beat police, and some attempted to set fire to the buses. More than 110 police officers were injured and 50 buses were destroyed," he said.
On Dec. 5, the second rally ended peacefully without any clashes between protesters and police. Although a number of protesters wore playful masks to protest against the President's IS remarks, police did not crack down on them.
"No need to barricade police buses or deploy water cannons if a rally proceeds peacefully as planned," said Human rights Prof. Jang Sung-jin of Howon University.
"The Dec. 5 demonstration was an exemplary rally for both sides."
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