The Supreme Court has ruled that the police breached the freedom of expression by restraining a civic group's  rallies in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul in 2016. 

According to the legal community on Thursday, the top court ruled in favor of ten members of civic group Lawyers for a Democratic Society, who jointly filed an indemnity suit against the government for restricting their scheduled single-person demonstrations in February of 2016 over the then planned installation of the U.S. anti-missile THAAD system. 

Police blocked the demonstrators from staging rallies in front of the U.S. embassy, citing Vienna Convention Article 22 concerning the protection of diplomatic missions, resulting in them to hold the rallies about 20 meters away from the embassy. 

Lower courts had ruled against the police measures, saying it is not plausible to believe that single-person rallies will pose a threat to the security of the U.S. embassy or U.S. diplomats, and the Supreme Court upheld the decisions. 

The civic group issued a statement welcoming the top court’s verdict, saying restraints on the freedom of expression should be kept to a minimum in a democratic society.