<Anchor>

The police forcibly dispersed the night cultural festival announced by the Metal Workers Union last night (25th) as an undeclared rally. The union accused the police of violently cracking down and accused them of abuse of power.

Reporter Kim Ji-wook covered it.

<Reporter>
At 8:55 p.m.
last night, four police officers picked up a union member who was sitting on the sidewalk and took him away.

Another union member who resists is dragged away with his arms caught.

[Why is this?]

Condemning the illegal dispatch of irregular workers, the police forcibly dispersed shortly after the start of the nightly cultural festival that the metal workers union had announced in front of the Supreme Court.

It took about 20 minutes for the 90 union members to be taken away by 600 police officers, and the police warned them to disperse because the union members shouted slogans and turned into a rally rather than a cultural festival, and there was no prior notification of the rally.

[Raise the minimum wage, raise the minimum wage.]

[Please East Sea safely.]

The union, which moved to a nearby park and continued its all-night sit-in, held a press conference this morning to claim that police had violently suppressed a peaceful cultural festival.

[Choi Chang-bok/Dangjin Hyundai Steel Irregular Workers Association: Hundreds of police surrounded and violently took irregular workers who were holding a peaceful cultural festival to a nearby park.]

During the press conference, the police continued to order them to disperse.

[Issue the 1st order to disband, disband immediately.]

After the press conference, the union went to the police station to visit the union members who were arrested yesterday, which led to clashes between the union and the police.

The three union members who were arrested for blocking the tow of a rally vehicle were released this afternoon after two rounds of investigations.

(Video reporter: Kim Seung-tae, Choi Choe-woong, Video editing: Shin Se-eun)


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< anchor>
Reporter Kim Ji-wook, who covered
this story, is here.

Q. Is the order to disperse the police illegal?

[Reporter Kim Ji-wook: Yes, in conclusion, it is not easy to forcibly disperse an assembly according to the Supreme Court precedent. As I told you earlier, the police saw the act of chanting slogans or picketing at the cultural festival yesterday, so it was considered an undeclared rally. The issue is whether the police can forcibly disperse an undeclared assembly, no matter how undeclared it is. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that if a meeting could be dissolved only on the grounds of non-notification, it would be tantamount to operating the pre-notification system like a permit system, and it was unfair because it violated the freedom of assembly. But there are clues. A direct danger to public welfare and order In clear cases, and if there is a risk of prejudice to the functioning or well-being of the Supreme Court, it is said that it can be dissolved. It stipulates very strict requirements for forced dissolution.]

Q. Why this time the cultural festival has been repeated?

[Reporter Kim Ji-wook: Yes, we have done it more than 20 times in the past three years, but why is it only this time? In response, a police official explained, "There have been illegal possessions in the past, but we have only been flexible so far," adding, "We have recently taken action in accordance with the government's policy to crack down on illegal gatherings." He also added that they took action after receiving an official letter from the Supreme Court requesting the protection of the facility and a letter from the district office asking for some manpower to remove the tents on the road. However, the metal union dismissed the move as a statement of the president's strict response, not the law.]

(Video reporter: Kim Seung-tae, Choi Choe-woong, Video editing: Chae Cheol-ho)