hankyoreh

in front of National Assembly

Police arrested 32 civilians over the weekend for staging a “candlelight protest” against the ruling Grand National Party’s unilateral push to put 85 contentious bills to a vote before the close of the extraordinary session on Thursday and parliamentary security guards’ forcible dispersal of Democratic Party lawmakers who opposed it. The civic group Emergency People’s Action to Protect Democracy and Counter Clampdown on Candlelight Protest (People’s Action) and many netizens called the police’s actions “excessive” and criticized them for cracking down on resistance to the GNP’s plan to pass the bills without the consent of the opposition parties.

About 3,000 demonstrators gathered at the National Assembly on Saturday, and reports later showed that scuffles between parliamentary security guards and sit-in protesters left some people injured. A candlelight protest was held at 7:30 p.m. Police attempted to disperse protesters at around 11 p.m., taking into custody a protester identified only by his surname Lee. The protest continued with a “candlelight walk” out of the National Assembly building and two more protesters were arrested.

Protesters went to Yeoungdeungpo police station at around 4 a.m. the following day to ask for the release of their fellow protesters, but police, calling the group “illegal protesters,” arrested an additional 29 people. Those arrested are being questioned at four different police stations, according to reports.

One of the protesters said police arrested them after demanding dispersion only three times in 15 minutes. Kang Young-ku, a lawyer representing the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, an umbrella labor union group, called the arrest “illegal,” saying that police did not follow proper procedures when taking them into custody, specifically by not advising them of their Miranda rights.

Police dispute this, saying that they followed the proper procedures and anything about the fate of those arrested is yet to be determined.

People’s Action held a press conference at 11 a.m. on Sunday and asked for the release of those arrested, saying, “The clock seems to be turning quickly back to the dictatorship era because police arrested people who were expressing their opinions peacefully.” The civic group held a “candlelight cultural event” at 7 p.m. on the same day and plans to carry out an “emergency action” on Tuesday to prevent the contentious bills from passing through parliament before the extraordinary session ends on Thursday.

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