hankyoreh

On International Day of Persons with Disabilities

A court ruled this week that a police ban on a scheduled pan-national rally on Dec. 5 was unjustified.

The decision overturns the administration and police’s recent attempts to crack down on what they preemptively called an “unlawful assembly” and prevent the large-scale event from taking place. The rally is now free to go ahead as scheduled.

Judge Kim Jeong-suk of the sixth administrative decision of Seoul Administrative Court announced on Dec. 8 that an injunction request by 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 to suspend the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s announced outdoor assembly ban had been granted.

The court also provided a point-by-point criticism of the police’s actions.

In its decision, the court dismissed the police‘s argument that the same groups organizing both the previous event and the upcoming meant the demonstrations would inevitably be unlawful and violent.

“Even if the Korean Confederation Trade Unions (KCTU) is the principle force between both this rally and the first popular indignation rally [on Nov. 14], that fact alone does not imply certainty that the Dec. 5 event will clearly be characterized by collective violence, intimidation, property damage, or arson,” the court concluded.

“By the police’s logic, it would be impossible to allow any and all future demonstrations organized by or including KCTU,” it added.

The court also said it was “impossible to conclude that the organizers of the first rally and the latest rally are the same simply because the 51 groups in the Pan-National Committee are the same as with the first rally.”

The ruling further said that the Dec. 5 event could not conclusively be said to “pose a direct threat to public peace and order,” citing the fact that “the applicants have stated on numerous occasions that they intend to hold a peaceful rally, and a Nov. 28 rally that had the same purpose was conducted peacefully.”

The court also ruled that the police’s decision to base their ban on concerns about serious traffic disruption was also faulty. Noting that the organizers “stated in their notification that 300 individuals tasked with maintaining order would be placed around the street march,” it argued that the “evidence presented by the police is insufficient to recognize this rally as presenting a serious traffic disruption.”

The court went on to give a harsh indirect rebuke of the police’s methods.

“Banning a rally is a last resort that can only be considered once all other options that do not restrict freedom of assembly are exhausted,” it said.

“Prior to banning the assembly, the police did not discuss with the organizers the possibility of changing the number of participants, route, time, or methods of the march, nor did they consider possible ways of permitting the rally to go ahead,” it added.

“Given the efforts made by the applicants [the Pan-National Committee] in announcing their intent to hold the rally peacefully, there are insufficient grounds for concluding that it would have a grave impact on public welfare to suspend the police’s ban notification,” the court concluded.

On Nov. 29, the committee filed a notice for an assembly from noon to 9 pm on Dec. 5 in which 7,000 marchers would proceed from Seoul Plaza to Seoul National University Hospital, where farmer Baek Nam-gi is currently hospitalized after being struck with the blast from a police water cannon at the Nov. 14 event. It requested the injunction after the police announced a ban on the rally.

Meanwhile, police and prosecutors continued to announce plans for a stern response. The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office announced a policy on Dec. 23 of strict punishment of criminal obstruction of official duties, stating that all illegal demonstration participants wearing masks would be delivered for official trial on principle - regardless of whether they used violence - and that one year would be added to the maximum prison sentence requested. The police announced plans to add ladders and ropes to the weapon and tool types that would allow for an increased sentence request in trials for violence against police officers or damage to public property.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency also pronounced a ban on a pan-national rally and march planned for Seoul Plaza on Dec. 5 by the Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea, an association that includes around 500 civic groups.

“We have determined that this rally constitutes a second popular indignation rally under a different name, and with the Network refusing to sign a memorandum of understanding offered by the police to pledge to conduct the demonstration lawfully, we cannot guarantee that it will observe the law,” the agency explained.

By Seo Young-ji and Kim Sung-hwan, staff reporters

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