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One protester wipes her face after being sprayed with a police water cannon mixed with capsaicin at a rally opposing the government’s plans to reform the labor market at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul

Police have declared an upcoming second “popular indignation rally” on Dec. 5 to be “illegal” and are pledging to arrest all participants.

The extreme measures are to involve a vehicle barricade around the planned site and the deployment of an “arrest squad” to carry out aggressive arrest operations. The plans are creating worries about large-scale clashes and arrests.

“In the past, we’ve used vehicle barricades to separate the police from demonstrators when responding to assemblies and demonstrations, but now we are planning to preemptively and aggressively position armored police in front of the barricades to prevent any damage to the vehicles or violence against police,” Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) Commissioner Goo Eun-su told reporters at the agency’s office in Seoul on Nov. 30.

Goo emphasized the “need for guarantees on ordinary citizens’ right to pursue happiness.”

“When you have thousands of people occupying major roads to march or protest over long periods of time, it does not have to be violent for it to not be a lawful demonstration,” he added.

The heightened response and aggressive measures come despite repeated pledges by the rally headquarters that the demonstration will be “peaceful,” as well as attempts at mediation by politicians and religious groups, including the Jogye Order of Buddhism.

With their actions, the police are effectively disallowing the assembly and march announced on Nov. 29 by a group calling itself the Pan-National Countermeasures Committee for the Recovery of the Farmer and Worker for Life and Peace Baek Nam-gi and the Denunciation of State Violence.

“Based on certain circumstances, the situation is the same with the demonstrations on Nov. 14,” a source with the SMPA said. “There is a strong chance a ban will be announced on the morning of Dec. 1.”

With this, the police now look likely to arrest and barricade all participants in the second rally as engaged in illegal actions, regardless of whether they actually brandish lead pipes or engage in acts of violence. Plans also call for the use of dyed jets from a water cannon to identify any participants who damage police vehicles or engage in violence while wearing masks, after which a squad of officers will be sent to make priority arrests. The NPA has ordered intensive training for all police units through Dec. 4 to separate out and arrest violent demonstrators wearing masks.

The rally headquarters held a press conference the same day to “strongly denounce the illegal actions of the police in persisting with a rally licensing system banned by the Constitution and using vehicle barricades and water cannons to disrupt demonstrations.”

“The rally will be held peacefully as planned on Dec. 5,” the headquarters declared.

By Kim Sung-hwan and Bang Jun-ho, staff reporters

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