"Dialogue Instead of Blocking": Gwangju Police Preserve Autonomy at 6,000-Strong Rally

Gwangju police have successfully established a new paradigm for responding to rallies and demonstrations that reduces physical intervention at large-scale gatherings and guarantees greater autonomy for organizers.

According to the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency on the 23rd, a large-scale rally with 6,000 participants was held on February 22 in the Geumnam-ro area of Dong-gu, Gwangju. The rally was led by religious circles and civic groups from the Honam region to condemn the reintroduction of the Anti-Discrimination Act in the 22nd National Assembly.

For this large-scale rally, the police applied the "Rally and Demonstration Response Paradigm Shift Plan" that the National Police Agency has been pursuing since this year. This plan moves away from the previous "prior and preventive" control approach, instead strengthening organizers' responsibility for maintaining order while limiting police involvement to a "post hoc and supplementary" role.

Before the rally, Gwangju police conducted a "pre-event safety assessment," thoroughly analyzing the expected size of participation, any previous record of illegal rallies, and the potential for noise and traffic congestion. Based on this assessment, they refrained from deploying unnecessary police forces and focused on traffic management to reduce inconvenience to citizens.

In particular, the activities of the "Dialogue Police Team," which serves as a buffer zone for conflicts at rally sites, stood out. The Dialogue Police Team, which integrates public security, traffic, and local police officers, acted as a bridge between rally participants, citizens, and the police, providing multidimensional support for both human rights protection and the maintenance of public order.

The rally organizers also actively responded to the police's "organizer responsibility principle." They deployed 200 of their own marshals at the site to prevent safety accidents and demonstrated a mature civic mindset by securing ambulance access and pedestrian pathways in advance.

An official from the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency stated, "This Geumnam-ro rally is a model case showing that the new paradigm, which minimizes police intervention and respects autonomous maintenance of order, has taken root on the ground," adding, "We will continue to strengthen the Dialogue Police Team so that we can harmoniously protect both the rights of rally participants and the peaceful daily lives of citizens."