There will be no more police water cannons and bus barricades at street rallies, a ranking police officer said Friday, signaling a dramatic shift in the police’s treatment of protestors after millions-strong demonstrations expelled a sitting president from power.

“From now on, we plan to make it a principle not to dispatch police forces, water cannons and bus barricades,” said Lee Dae-hyung, a human rights protection officer from the National Police Agency during a forum on human rights and police held in Busan. 

“The basis is likely to change that we allow rally organizers to autonomously run public assemblies.”

That, along with other measures to uphold human rights during investigation or use of police authority, will be included in the National Policy Agency’s briefing to President Moon Jae-in’s de-facto transition committee, he added. The briefing to the State Affairs Policy Planning Committee is scheduled for Saturday.

South Korea was once plagued by violent street demonstrations by university students and unionized workers, but the past winter’s rallies against former President Park Geun-hye earned international praise as a peaceful, yet powerful grassroots movement.

After Park was ousted, a human-rights lawyer turned liberal politician -- Moon Jae-in -- rose to the presidency. On Thursday, he ordered empowerment of the nation’s human rights watchdog, while his civil affairs secretary pressured the state prosecution and police for better protection of basic rights of citizens.

Human rights activists have been criticizing the police, in particular, for use of excessive forces at street protests and restricting the freedom of public assembly.

In 2015, a blast from police water cannon knocked down activist farmer Baek Nam-gi during a demonstration in which protesters were attacking police buses. He died last year, after 317 days in coma.

The police have in the past said that the dispatch of forces, police bus barricades and the use of water cannons are essential for them to maintain public order.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)