Police investigation of housewives involved in candlelight protests draws heavy criticism

Posted on : 2008-09-22 13:07 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Civic groups launch objections and Internet petition against investigation of the ‘Baby Carriage Brigade’
 a group of housewives suspected of obstructing police during the protests.
a group of housewives suspected of obstructing police during the protests.

With police launching an investigation of members of the “Baby Carriage Brigade,” a group of housewives who brought their children to the candlelight protests against U.S. beef, protests from civic groups, netizens and opposition parties are growing stronger. In particular, considering how the investigation is not against a few radical protesters but rather against ordinary housewives who used peaceful means to express their opinion, there is criticism that the police have launched the investigation to frighten people in order to “dry up the seeds of the candlelight protests.”

A post entitled “Immediately Suspend the Targeted Investigation of the Baby Carriage Brigade,” posted on September 20 by a netizen with the ID of “Neungsoni” on the petition section of Internet portal Daum’s Agora site, had 2,200 signatures of agreement as of yesterday afternoon. One netizen with the ID of “qufl” said she, too, should be a target of investigation, since she went to a street march with her four-year-old son in hand. She said it was sad and frightening that in a country in which the president said he had reflected on his inability to read the heart of the public, the heart of the public had become a crime in just three months. Among netizens, there is lamentation that people who participated in the protests after joining other online cafes like “The Reservist Brigade” and “Candlelight Girls” have now become subject to investigation.

After police visited the homes of each of the three women under investigation, the People’s Countermeasure Council against Mad Cow Disease said in a statement yesterday that for police to have visited the women’s homes without prior notice to tell them to appear for questioning was a clear misuse of authority, and that telling the women that they would seek a warrant if they failed to turn up was a virtual threat.

Criticism is also coming from political circles. Kim Yoo-jeong, the spokeswoman of the Democratic Party, said police, who she said are now arresting even mothers who worry about their children and holding them hostage, need to wake up. Park Sun-young, spokeswoman of the Liberty Forward Party, said applying the obscure and uncertain concept of “incitement” to the Baby Carriage Brigade was worrying as it lead to arbitrary law enforcement. Bu Seung-hyeon, the spokesman of the Democratic Labor Party, said sarcastically that the investigation would end only when the one million citizens who participated in the candlelight protests are arrested.

With controversy growing, the Seoul Metropolitan Police’s cyber investigation team posted a statement directly on Daum Agora, saying that the three under investigation, including a Ms. Jang, had driven the participation of the Baby Carriage Brigade in the protests, and one of the three, a Ms. Yu, was suspected of using her baby carriage to block the movement of the police water cannon vehicle.

There is also criticism of a lack of balance in recent investigations of people involved in the candlelight protests when compared to the investigations of extreme right-wing and conservative groups that opposed the candlelight demonstrations. In one case, police investigated the members of an Agent Orange veterans’ group that used gas cans at protests in front of KBS and MBC on Yeouido in June, but the investigation ended with two people being charged without detention. In another case, some 25 individuals, including a Mr. Jang, the administrator of what was known as the “Candlelight Car Alliance,” were booked on charges of carrying out a “car demonstration” during the September 4 candlelight demonstration, but the members of a right-wing group were not even investigated for having carried out a boisterous demonstration with flashing lights downtown mobilizing over 100 cars. An officer at the Yeongdeungpo Police Station explained that in the case of the gas can incident, the police station’s intelligence unit brought photos of the perpetrators and asked for an investigation, while in the case of the car protest, no request for an investigation was made.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]