Editing March First Movement (section)

==Beginning==
Around noon on March 1, 1919, 29 of the 33 signers{{Efn|The remaining signers were reportedly in the countryside during this time.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" />}} of the declaration gathered in T'aehwagwan to start the protest.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" />{{Sfn|Ra|2003|pp=179–180|p=}} The signers conducted a prominent reading of the declaration in the restaurant.{{Sfn|Ra|2003|pp=179–181|p=}} The Korean restaurant owner [[An Sunhwan]] ({{Korean|hangul=안순환|hanja=安淳煥|labels=no}}) rushed over and reported the event to the Japanese [[Government-General of Chōsen]], which caused the signers to be arrested by around 80 Japanese military police officers.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" />
[[File:탑골공원 전경.jpg|thumb|Tapgol Park (1968)]]
Meanwhile, around 4,000 to 5,000 people assembled at [[Tapgol Park]] after hearing there was going to be an announcement made there.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" /> Around 2 p.m., an unidentified young man rose up before the crowd and began reading the Korean Declaration of Independence aloud. Near the end of the document's reading, cheers of "long live Korean independence" ({{Korean|hangul=대한독립 만세|labels=no}}) erupted continually from the crowd, and they filed out onto the main street [[Jongno]] for a public march.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" />[[File:(Red Cross pamphlet on March 1st Movement) (KADA-shyun15-012~11).jpg|thumb|Crowds at [[Seoul City Hall]]<ref name="CVJ2">{{cite journal |last1=Legault |first1=Barbara |last2=Prescott |first2=John F. |date=August 2009 |title="The arch agitator:" Dr. Frank W. Schofield and the Korean independence movement |journal=The Canadian Veterinary Journal |volume=50 |issue=8 |pages=865–872 |pmc=2711476 |pmid=19881928}}</ref> (March 1919)]]
By the time the marchers reached the gate [[Daehanmun]] of the former royal palace [[Deoksugung]], their numbers had swelled to the tens of thousands. From there, a number of splinter groups marched in different directions throughout the city. News of the protests spread rapidly in Seoul, and marching and public demonstations continued for many hours afterwards.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" /> That day, around 3,000 copies of the declaration were distributed around Seoul.<ref name="Japan Focus" />

These protestors were reportedly consistently peaceful.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" /> The declaration contains the text "We entertain no spirit of vengeance towards Japan... [L]et there be no violence".<ref>{{Cite book |author=First Korean Congress |url=http://archive.org/details/firstkoreancongr00kore |title=First Korean congress, held in the Little theatre, and Delancey streets, April 14, 15, 16 |date=1919 |publisher= Philadelphia|others=[[Library of Congress]] |pages=80–82 |language=en}}</ref> The protestors were often met with violent repression by Japanese authorities, which resulted in deaths and arrests.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" />{{Sfn|Ra|2003|pp=168–169}}