Arrests made 3 days after plaza opens

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Arrests made 3 days after plaza opens

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About 20 activists and members of four opposition parties held a press conference at Gwanghwamun Plaza yesterday, criticizing the decision by the Seoul city government and police to effectively ban rallies in the plaza. [YONHAP]

Only three days since the official opening of Gwanghwamun Plaza in central Seoul, city police yesterday made the first arrests of activists there on charges of staging an unauthorized protest.

Twenty activists and members of four opposition political parties held a press conference at the plaza at 11 a.m., criticizing the decision by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and city police to effectively ban rallies at the newly opened public space.

“In order to hold an event on the plaza, people have to get permission from the Seoul city government and the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Such a double-permission system has practically barred gatherings and protests on the plaza,” Park Won-seok, policy director at the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, read from a statement. The organization demanded that the regulations governing Gwanghwamun Plaza be scrapped.

The regulations were announced by the city government on Saturday. Noting that the location is in close proximity to the U.S. Embassy and the central government complex, the city said it plans to permit mostly exhibitions on the plaza to reduce noise and guarantee smooth transit of passersby and traffic. After the regulations were announced, civic groups and liberal political parties said the restrictions violated people’s basic rights.

At the press conference yesterday, participants held placards reading, “Freedom of Expression at Gwanghwamun Plaza.”

Thirty minutes into the event, the police began arresting 10 of the 20 participants. Park was taken into custody while reading the statement, and the event was stopped. Scuffles broke out between the activists and 30 police officers. “Participants held signboards and shouted slogans, so the event was a rally under the nation’s law governing gatherings and protests, not a press conference,” said an official from the Jongno Police Precinct. “Because they had not obtained a permit to stage a rally in advance, we judged that the event was an unauthorized rally.”

Police had warned that they would act harshly against rallies disguised as press conferences.

“We did not block anyone’s passage,” the People’s Solidarity of Participatory Democracy said in a statement released after the incident. “We did not cause any material damage. We just opened a peaceful press conference. Police not only obstructed the media conference, but also forcibly arrested some participants.”

Activists said they will hold another press conference at the plaza today. Police say they are prepared.


By Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr]


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