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| A child places a flower-patterned sticker on a police bus during the anti-President Park Geun-hye rally in central Seoul, Saturday. While some participants at earlier rallies destroyed police vehicles, the stickers of flowers, symbolizing peace, have replaced violence in recent rallies. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
By Choi Ha-young
The five massive Saturday protests against President Park Geun-hye have all ended peacefully. They also achieved a national record for the number of participants ― 1.9 million people last Saturday ― as well as a new norm in protest culture: nonviolence.
Some, however, claim nonviolence is ineffective. President Park is still in office without answering calls to resign over the influence-peddling scandal involving her confidant and aides, and all protesters can do is just enjoy concerts.
"I come here every week but it feels like I do it to satisfy myself and make my participation meaningful," said Heo Soon-man, 45, a factory worker.
Park Eun-sik, 29, an office worker from Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, said, "The cultural performances and the form of rally don't seem to reflect our energy."
However, change is taking place quietly but fundamentally.
While police initially banned gatherings and marches at places even 1 kilometer from Cheong Wa Dae, local courts have unprecedentedly ruled in favor of protesters for five consecutive weeks, allowing them to march to a point 200 meters from the presidential office.
"Citizens, not courts or police, should be able to make the boundary of legality," said Jeon Mi-ok, 56, a Seoul resident.
For them, nonviolence is a strategy to prove the police's responsibility for violence. "Previously, protesters turned violent because police oppressed them excessively. It instigated protesters' anger," said a participant surnamed Park, 55, from Seoul.
"As we can see, we can stage a peaceful rally if the police don't violently suppress the people," said Seo, 55, next to Park.
For the five rallies, police haven't used water cannons, which put farmer activist Baek Nam-ki in a coma for 10 months before he died in September. Instead, last Saturday police hung a banner that read: "Please keep the rally peaceful, show a mature sense of citizenship."
"I think people know by instinct that violence will reduce the number of protesters," said Kim Sun-young, 39, a mother of two. "We could come here because safety is ensured."
People have also shown a different stance toward riot police from before, as those standing in front of the barricades are conscripts serving their mandatory military duty.
"I had a problem with criticizing the police, because they are young people forced to be there," said Lee Joo-hee, 17, who came with her mother.
Chun Sang-chin, a sociology professor at Sogang University, also pointed out the different tone of the conservative media regarding the recent anti-Park rallies. "Traditionally, conservative newspapers tried to divide good protests and bad protests, separating ordinary citizens from professional protesters," Chun said.
In the 2008 protest against beef imports from the United States, this strategy worked effectively, he said. "This isolated labor and civic activists, encouraging police to adopt violent measures."
However, that narrative has not appeared this time, he said. "It looks like activists and citizens are harmonized in the square, as a place of civic education."
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