[사설]Urban traffic and fire controls reminiscent of the authoritarian regime

On the 3rd, the police mobilized about 300 police buses to erect a 4 km wall to block press conferences and one-man protests by some conservative groups that were announced in central Seoul on the third day of the opening day. Around 11,000 soldiers were deployed to prevent ordinary citizens from entering Gwanghwamun Square. The subway that passed near Gwanghwamun passed without stopping, the carriages stopped unconditionally, rolled down the windows and asked where to go. However, the vehicle demonstration allowed by the court in the range of ‘9 vehicles’ was carried out in compliance with the nine implementation conditions required by the court. The Corona 19 quarantine, which claimed people’s lives, is a national task that cannot be alert for a moment. It is advisable to refrain from large gatherings where there is a concern about the spread of the infection. Behind this cause, the government tried to block the rally in the city center, but the police responded excessively. The police set up 90 checkpoints on the outskirts of Seoul to control vehicles indiscriminately, and even ordinary citizens on the streets were inspected individually.

Freedom of assembly and demonstration is a fundamental national right guaranteed by the Constitution. Government authorities have shown no minimum effort to respect this constitutional spirit. The legal basis for the idea and the excessive response of the police, who tried to ban demonstrations of vehicles only in vehicles, following quarantine rules, is also weak. The behavior of the police leadership, which dedicated itself to executing as far as possible the harsh comments of the president, revives the specter of public power during the authoritarian regime.

Police said they will respond strictly to downtown Seoul on the ninth day of Hangeul. No one will be against the government’s cause of preventing the spread of the coronavirus. However, no matter how correct the justification, if it is a way of mobilizing with force all public power, it will undermine the values ​​of democracy that our people have continued to bleed. In particular, to prevent ordinary citizens from going through the blockade of the assembly is to return the democratic hour hand to the past. A regime promoting the Gwanghwamun candlelight assembly as a “symbol” of the regime should at least show a higher level of mature response to freedom of assembly and demonstration.