The lightstick protests, alternatively known as a penlight demonstrations is a form of peaceful protest phenomenon in East Asia characterized by the synchronized use of electronic concert lightsticks. The movement originated in South Korea in December 2024 during mass demonstrations against emergency martial law, where youth demographics substituted traditional wax candles with colorful K-pop lightsticks. The tactic subsequently spread to Japan and Taiwan, where it has been adopted by Generation Z activists to oppose government policies, advocate for peace, and protest constitutional reforms. By integrating idol fandom culture into political dissent, the movement aims to lower the barrier to civic engagement and destigmatize public protests. The protests were defined as a direct evolution of candlelight rallies, sometimes called Candlelight Protest 2.0, and as Gen Z protests.
History
Background
South Korea
The use of luminous objects in East Asian civic activism draws heavily upon a long-standing tradition of candlelight vigils and mass nocturnal assemblies. The primary structural precursor is South Korea's "candlelight rally" (chotbul jibhoe) culture. Starting on September 26, 1992 when online users gathered to oppose the charging of the online service of Kotel, which had stopped being free of charge when "Korea PC Telecom" acquired the company, South Korea's candlelight rallies culture intensified following 2002, when internet cafes organized a significant protest in Gwanghwamun Square to condemn the death of two Korean girls by US armoured vehicles on military training manoeuvres.
Since then, mass candle-lit assemblies became a signature of South Korean civil resistance, culminating in the historic 2016–2017 "Candlelight Revolution" that led, through the mobilization of millions of individuals, to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. During these protests lightsticks started to first appear as a sign of protest in response to Kim Jin-tae's statement that "candlelights will eventually go out when the wind blows", alongside apps which showcased images of candlelights.
Following the 2016–2017 events, candlelight vigils remained the primary baseline for South Korean public assemblies, with other uses such as advocating a reform of the korean prosecution.
Taiwan
The basis of the lightsticks protests in Taiwan stem from the Bluebird Movement. The initial May 2024 rallies outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, lightsticks were not yet widely used. However, K-pop and Mandopop fandom communities established the exact organizational framework that would later define the lightstick protests. Taiwanese fans utilized internet spaces to translate political news, design custom protest fan art, and, in a move borrowed directly from K-pop agency protest culture, crowdfunded an LED truck within a few hours to park near the parliament, broadcasting pro-democracy messages and synchronized videos.
Original protest
A structural and cultural shift occurred during the December 2024 South Korean martial law crisis. On December 3, 2024, President Yoon Suk-yeol suddenly declared emergency martial law, triggering immediate mass mobilization outside the National Assembly in Seoul. Using rapid social media coordination, some of these daily demonstrations saw a widespread substitution of traditional wax candles with official K-pop electronic lightsticks (eungwonbong) from groups including SHINee, NCT, Highlight, NewJeans, WOODZ, BTS, GFriend, Blackpink, Stray Kids and Seventeen. The protests were described similarly to a concert, with songs such as "March for the Beloved", "In the Wilderness", "Into the New World," Aespa's "Whiplash," Rosé's "APT," Seventeen's BooSeokSoon's "Go Ahead," and G-Dragon's "Crooked" playing in the background. When asked about why they had brought lightsticks to the protests instead of candles, some protesters cited Kim Jin-tae's statement from back in 2016, stating that "lightsticks shine for 24 hours". Social medias and the wider internet were used as a way to show solidarity to the protests; some sellers of lightsticks on the internet lent their items temporarily free of charge, whilst other users prepaid coffees and gimbaps for the demonstrators to claim.
Despite being the main symbol, lightsticks were not the only items brought to these protests, with flags featuring slogans and sarcastic remarks such as "National Quokka Conservation Association," "Star Wars Resistance Seoul Branch," "Single-Person Household Planetary Alliance," and "Dog Foot Odor Research Society" also popped up. Another popular item was the glowstick, a cheaper alternative to the fandom-tied lightsticks.
On 9 December 2024, as a callback to the original lightstick protest, and in respect towards those who participated in it, Jung Chung-rae recited the lyric of "Into the New World" in the parliamentary judiciary committee.
Subsequent protests
South Korea On January 2, 2025, mass nightly rallies organized in Gwanghwamun Plaza and central Seoul heavily deployed fandom "eungwonbong" alongside traditional placards. Such protests continued into the rest of January 2026, accompanying the impeachment procedure of Yuun Suk-Yeol.
Taiwan The tactical transition to a true "lightstick protest" (yìngyuánbàng shìwēi) in Taiwan materialized between December 18 and 20, 2024. This domestic legislative crisis occurred concurrently with the massive post-martial law demonstrations in Seoul, South Korea. Viral video documentation of South Korean youth deploying battery-operated "eungwonbong" directly inspired Taiwanese K-pop fans to systematically replicate the tactic. Over 15,000 demonstrators flooded the evening rallies in Taipei carrying the official concert lightsticks of diverse idol groups, including Super Junior, SEVENTEEN, TVXQ, Infinite, NCT, and Miss A. The movement popularized the slogan "My Bias is Taiwan" (我的本命是台灣, Wǒ de běnmìng shì Táiwān), substituting a traditional political party identity with the subcultural concept of a běnmìng (one's absolute favorite or ultimate idol).
The visible presence of concert merchandise drew sharp condemnation from opposition lawmakers. Politicians from the Kuomintang party publicly dismissed the youth protesters as "crazy star-chasers" and accused them of being paid operatives of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to buy expensive merchandise. Following these claims, protesters updated the digital display on their crowdfunded LED truck to read explicitly: "I bought my own lightsticks" and "Democracy must be upheld so that star-chasing can be an everyday practice." Protesters argued that democratic structures were what guaranteed the fundamental civil liberty to consume global pop culture freely without state censorship.
The Economic Democracy Union (經民連) and the Taiwan Citizen Front (台灣公民陣線) institutionalized the momentum of the late 2024 protests by launching a long-term, decentralized circuit of regional assemblies known as the "L滥权立委究责会" (Accountability Rallies for Abusive Legislators). On 2 January 2025, a mass assembly in Banqiao drew over 700 participants. The fan-crowdfunded "Star-Chasing Truck" returned to the venue, projecting synchronized digital slogans via its LED displays while attendees rhythmically waved electronic lightsticks. On 8 January 2025, the rolling lightstick rallies expanded to Taichung, on 15 January in Miaoli, on 19 January in Hualien and continued dynamically into the spring.
The massive reliance on foreign K-pop "eungwonbong" prompted a coalition of Taiwanese youth designers and fan organizers to launch an independent crowdfunding initiative in early 2025 known as the "Taiwan Lightstick Project", also known as "Democratic Lightstick". However, the rapid influx of capital and the sheer scale of manufacturing led to significant internal friction. By February 2025, production delays, product labeling anomalies, and invoice distribution issues caused a wave of consumer frustration, prompting some purchasers to organize a formal "Consumer Self-Help Association" to demand financial audits.
Japan
Lightstick protests in Japan started on 27 February 2026, when 3.600 individuals showed up in front of Japan’s National Diet Building. Other lightstick protests took place on 10 March (with an attendance of 8.600 people) and 25 March (with an attendance of 24.000 people).
The protests started to intensify and enlarge starting on 8 April, on Hanamatsuri, and 19 April 2026, protests once again took place in front of the Japan’s National Diet Building to protest the plan of revisiting the Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, playing aespa's song "Whiplash", and with a significant presence of lightsticks. Approximately 30.000 people attended the first event, where participants did utilized lightsticks, but also engaged in oshikatsu which was adapted as a form of political protest against the National Diet.
On Constitution Memorial Day, at Tokyo's Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park, 50.000 people participated in a protest against Sanae Takaichi and her government. The protest chanted slogans against Takaichi, played Kara's K-POP song "Mister" and utilized lightsticks as symbols, inspired by the protests that took place in South Korea.
After the massive central gatherings in Tokyo on 3 May, the movement decentralized. Activists used localized online platforms like the Demo Calendar to organize regional, neighborhood-level events. Instead of traveling to the National Diet Building, citizens brought their concert lightsticks to local train stations, including a 250 person rally at Kamata Station and widespread "Lightsticks & Reading Nights" in regional prefectures like Miyazaki and Fukuoka. These decentralized actions frequently adopted the slogan "Lightsticks Over Swords" (剣よりペンライト). On 27 June 2026, a lightstick protest occurred in Kiryu, most of the participants this time being elderly individuals. On May 29 the "Light of Protest" actions outside the parliament buildings managed to draw thousands of participants who used the approachable "lightstick culture" to lower the entry barrier for first-time protesters.
On 10 July a nation-wide demonstration that took place in 153 different locations named "We protest against outrageous politics" took place, drawing 35.175 people across Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo and other cities; During the event, a lightstick protest also took place drawing around 60 people in the Kintetsu Yamato-Saidaiji Station, Yamatokōriyama, the hometown of Takaichi. Around 27.000 of the individuals involved in the protests attended it in Tokyo at the National Diet building, however an additional 110.000 others participated nationwide online. On 25 July another lightstick protest against the revised Imperial Household Law, the law punishing acts of vandalism against the national flag, against Takaichi and in support of the integrity of Article 9 gathered around 1000 people around the National Diet. On the same day, LaSalle Ishii, Secretary-General of the Japanese Social Democratic Party, called the lightstick protests in Japan a "good sign".
Demographics