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The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency is facing strong criticism for its heavy-handed crackdowns on rallies and protests to oppose a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the United States. Some of police actions are reminiscent even of those in the era of the military dictatorship decades ago, human rights groups said.

Rights groups say they are poised to take legal action against police for their harsh crackdowns, while at the same time pushing to stage a "no obedience" campaign against the law which prohibits unsanctioned outdoor gatherings.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said "no" to a total of 124 proposed demonstrations and public assemblies out of 37,521 reported cases between January 1, 2006 and March 11 of this year. Among the banned rallies, 94 - or more than three out of four - were slated to be against the proposed FTA between South Korean and the U.S.

Given this situation, a vicious cycle has been created in which many demonstrations are banned, and when participants choose to go ahead with the protests, riot police come to crack down on the proceedings, often violently.

The police have banned such FTA-related rallies since November last year when street rallies in Daejoen and Gwangju led to violence and arson. Only two gatherings have been permitted by the nation’s two umbrella labor organizations.

In addition, since police took a "no-tolerance" stance against protests held outside of police approval since last November, these demonstrations have been suppressed with increasing brutality.

Lee Taek-soon, chief of the National Police Agency, seems to have adopted a more heavy-handed approach on illegal demonstrations after he came under fire from ministers at a cabinet meeting in October last year after several street rallies became violent.

Some observers say the stronger crackdown, especially on unapproved anti-FTA protests, is based on the will of President Roh Moo-hyun, who wants to sign an FTA with the U.S. during his term since such an economic pact would represent an important achievement for his administration, which ends in February next year.

Meanwhile, civic groups plan to file a court injunction on the law allowing the authorities to ban demonstrations. They said they will also file a suit against Lee Taek-soon, accusing him of abuse of power as the police chief.

Along with these actions, the groups said they would continue what police call "illegal" demonstrations as part of their "no-obedience" campaign against the law allowing police to ban such gatherings at their discretion.

"As long as the police instigate illegality by barring public gatherings, we have no choice but to continue our protests," a civic group member said.

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