3,800 Prohibition Notices for Downtown Seoul Gatherings Since COVID-19... "Not a Rational Measure"

Press Conference of the Public Authority Monitoring Response Team

On the morning of the 12th, participants are speaking at the press conference for the report on the rights to assembly and demonstration during COVID-19, titled "Quarantine and Assembly, Not a Choice," hosted by the Public Authority Monitoring Response Team at the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions conference room in Jung-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Since the spread of COVID-19 last year, it has been revealed that more than 11% of the assemblies reported in downtown Seoul, approximately 3,800 cases, were prohibited by the police.

The 'Public Authority Monitoring Response Team,' consisting of seven civic groups including the Catholic Human Rights Committee and Dasan Human Rights Center, held a press conference on the 12th at the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions conference room in Jung-gu, Seoul, and released the 'Report on COVID-19 and the Right to Assemble and Protest.'

According to the report, the number of assemblies reported in Seoul in 2018 and 2019 were 29,592 and 36,551 respectively, with only one prohibition notice each year. However, among the 34,944 assemblies reported in Seoul last year, when COVID-19 began to spread, 3,865 cases (11.06%) were prohibited.

The Public Authority Monitoring Response Team stated, "Assemblies were always held to a standard one level higher than the social distancing stage," and criticized that "administrative orders related to assemblies and protests were far from reasonable quarantine measures."

Criticism also arose that the prohibition of assemblies was not based on scientific evidence. Kim Jung-woo, an activist from the Citizen Health Research Institute, emphasized, "The greatest factor affecting the transmission of the COVID-19 virus is indoor activities in enclosed spaces," and added, "Assemblies and protests are important means to raise voices amid discrimination, exclusion, and inequality, providing opportunities to improve quarantine measures and the conditions underlying them."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.