Police Forcefully Disperse 3rd Homeless Protest by Non-Regular Workers' Group... First Temporary Detention This Year Also Implemented

The police forcibly dispersed a 1-night-2-day overnight protest by irregular workers' labor groups held in downtown Seoul. The police stated that the forced dispersal was unavoidable due to the protest exceeding the designated time and causing noise. The labor groups claimed that the police interfered with their peaceful demonstration.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the police on the 8th, the "Irregular Workers Stop Now Joint Struggle" (Joint Struggle) held the main rally the previous day at 8 p.m. on the sidewalk in front of the Finance Building in Jung-gu, Seoul. Afterwards, about 50 people conducted a 1-night-2-day overnight protest on the road until the next morning.

The police demanded the end of the rally and forced dispersal after 11 p.m., stating that the permitted rally time had been exceeded. From 11:52 p.m., they issued dispersal orders. Around 12:12 a.m., a clash occurred during the process of getting the lying protest participants to stand up.

The police issued dispersal orders three times in total. Nevertheless, as the participants continued the overnight protest, the police proceeded with forced dispersal around 2:07 a.m. Several people were injured during clashes that occurred while moving from the road to the sidewalk between the police and participants.

The police stated that the Joint Struggle exceeded the permitted rally time and did not comply with the dispersal orders, making the exercise of public authority unavoidable. The police also issued four orders to stop using loudspeakers from 9:09 p.m. to 10:38 p.m., citing that the Joint Struggle exceeded the noise standard of 65 dB (decibels). Additionally, at 11 p.m., one console box and one speaker were temporarily confiscated. This was the first temporary confiscation this year, with only one such case nationwide last year.

The Joint Struggle stated, "The police unjustly took the sound equipment and the organizer's tent," and added, "They used force to interfere with the peaceful protest and forced us to hold the overnight protest at a relocated site."

Earlier, the police prohibited the Joint Struggle's late-night rally on that day. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency sent a restriction notice to the Joint Struggle the previous day, banning rallies and demonstrations from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. This is the third time the police have forcibly dispersed the Joint Struggle's nighttime cultural events and overnight protests. On May 25-26 and June 9-10, the Joint Struggle held nighttime cultural events and overnight protests in front of the Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. The police forcibly dispersed these events citing them as unreported rallies.

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