Court snubs police ban on rally
By Jhoo Dong-chan
A court has ruled against a police move to ban a rally planned for Saturday in central Seoul by civic, labor and farmers groups that held a massive anti-government demonstration on Nov. 14.
The Seoul Administrative Court said Thursday that it had accepted the request from the groups to annul the police ban on their second rally.
The decision comes five days after police announced a prohibition of the Dec. 5 rally requested by the groups, including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), citing a possible repeat of the violence between police and protesters at the previous demonstration.
“It is unreasonable to presume that the second rally will be violent only because the organizers are the same to the first one,” the court said. “The organizers have repeatedly said they will hold the second one peacefully.”
Regarding police claims that they can ban demonstrations if they are likely to turn violent and threaten public safety and order, the court said it cannot definitively say the second rally would threaten public safety.
Following the court decision, the organizers plan to have a gathering at Seoul Plaza at noon Saturday and march toward Seoul National University Hospital in Daehangno, where a farmers’ union member, who incurred brain damage after being hit by a police water cannon during the first rally, has been hospitalized.
Police said they would follow the court decision, saying it wanted to appeal but any decision may not come out before the day of the rally.
The National Human Rights Commission said it would dispatch some 20 staff members to monitor possible human rights violations.
Besides the rally, police banned further demonstrations planned for the same day, including one requested by the Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea.
Regarding this rally, police said they had secured evidence that the protest could be under a false name, and it is actually being organized by the KCTU.
Police also claimed the former groups’ list of 100 participants who will be in charge of maintaining order, overlapped those on a list submitted by the KCTU for its planned rally on Dec. 5.
However, a leader of the groups said that they had already made it clear that their rally would be separate from the KCTU demonstration.
National University’s law school started boycotting their classes Thursday afternoon, and said they would all quit and send their opinion to the National Assembly Judiciary Committee.
“We chose to enter law school because we had faith in the government’s decision. How are we supposed to focus on study when the government is questioning its own policy?” said one student.
The Seoul Bar Association, a supporter of the exam retention, welcomed the decision. “The decision shows that the ministry agreed with public consensus that the exam should be retained. The retention will enable competition between those who sit the exam and law school graduates, a healthy competition which will help both sides develop,” the association said.