hankyoreh

Police officials are defining “candlelight protests” against American beef imports in Seoul’s Cheonggyecheon Plaza on May 2 and 3 illegal and say they intend to prosecute organizers. The move is expected to be controversial, but it appears the protests will continue for at least the immediate future.

“The event was registered as a cultural event but it was in fact a political gathering overflowing with agitation and agitating slogans,” said a Seoul Police Agency official. “It also dispersed at 10 p.m. instead of the 9 p.m. time it was registered for. We are already working on how to prosecute the organizers, since that much looks unavoidable,” he said.

Civic groups are calling the move an “arbitrary application of the law” and say it threatens the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of assembly and protest.

Approximately ten thousand people gathered at Cheonggyecheon Plaza on May 2 and 3 and shouted slogans protesting the decision to allow imports of American beef and calling for the impeachment of President Lee Myung-bak. Similar protests took place in Busan, Gwangju, Incheon, Daegu, and other provincial cities. They were largely organized online, and those involved say there are going to be another round of protests on May 6 and 9.

As of the afternoon of May 4, an online petition calling for Lee’s impeachment had been “signed” by one million people. The premise for the impeachment is that he is exposing Koreans to potential mad cow disease by allowing U.S. beef imports.