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prohibiting of gatherings may be considered to be against the principle of freedom
of assembly. With the emergency degree in place, authorities have to comply with
the law, and any gatherings can be deemed as violation. At the same time, the act
of putting physical obstruction in place by setting up containers, steel panels and
barbed wires (which is a dangerous material) along the streets to obstruct
gatherings has resulted in confrontation, clashes between protesters and police
forces, and led to injuries. Subsequent arrests of demonstrations that led to
prosecution for violating the Emergency Decree and other relevant laws additionally
create an environment of fear with the intention to prevent people from joining further
demonstrations. This is considered a human rights violation and is inconsistence
with the General Comment No. 37 on the right of peaceful assembly and the
freedom of peaceful assembly of the Human Rights Commission of the International
Covenant on Civil and Civil Rights in Politics (Human Rights Committee).
1.2 Whether the use of force by government officials during
assemblies is an act or a neglecting of an act that can be considered a violation of
human right.
1.2.1) The use of crowd control equipment against protesters
Examination revealed that crowd control police resorted to
the use of equipment during incidents of clashes. The use of crowd control
equipment used during protests can be summarized, as follows:
(1) The use of baton
Facts revealed that crowd control police have not used
necessary precautions before using batons against protesters. The use of batons
led to many serious injuries.
(2) The use of high-pressure crowd control water
cannons
The facts appeared that tear gas and purple chemicals
were added into the water cannons on several occasions. Most of the time,
announcements were made to warn protesters before the use of water cannon.
Nevertheless, it has not always been done in appropriate manners, such as, when
the volume of the announcement was low, preventing the majority of protesters from
hearing the announcement. On several occasions, field reporters and non-violent