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Police, rally organizers argue over protest size
By Lee Kyung-min
For Saturday's massive protest denouncing the influence-peddling scandal centered on Park Geun-hye's confidant Choi Soon-sil, the civic groups that organized the protest said more than 200,000 people gathered near Gwanghwamun Square and Seoul City Hall in downtown Seoul as of 7:30 p.m. However, police said only about 45,000 people came, a figure less than one quarter the organizers' estimate.
Such different tallying happens at almost all rallies, partially due to the organizers and the police struggling to hold power. While organizers try to maximize the numbers to better convey the public rage behind collective actions, police tend to underreport participation rates to undercut the social and political implications of the movements.
The discrepancy in numbers also partly comes from methods of counting protesters.
While rally organizers count those who come late and stay only for a few minutes, police exclude such people because they are not deemed to pose a threat or incite violence. National Police Agency Commissioner General Lee Chul-sung said counting the number of protesters is for security reasons to help prepare for an adequate number of police needed to be dispatched.
Police said that for Saturday's rally, they calculated the number based on the assumption that up to 10 people occupy a 3.3-square-meter area, and multiplied it by 9,724, the size of Gwanghwamun Square. Assuming that some were sitting and others were standing, the number could be only 58,000 at best.
The number of protesters at Saturday's rally could be estimated from two previous massive rallies, as photos taken then show protesters occupying similar areas.
On March 20, 2004, in a rally to protest the impeachment of then-President Roh Moo-hyun, organizers said more than 220,000 gathered while police said only 130,000 came.
In the case of protests between June 8 and 10, 2008, to oppose imports of American beef allegedly tainted with mad cow disease, organizers said more than 700,000 people participated in the three-day rally, while police said the number remained around 80,000.
Meanwhile, unlike political or social rallies, police tend not to underreport crowd sizes for cultural events.
On Oct. 4, 2012, at a concert performed by singer Psy in front of Seoul City Hall, police said more than 80,000 people packed the plaza, a far smaller area than the one in Gwanghwamun.
