Sejong Cultural Center with a fence▶ Click here for a larger view
The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the police are also strengthening their boundaries as the March 1st Seoul city rally centered on conservative groups began.
According to the police on the 1st, the Seoul Police Agency is preparing for an emergency by deploying more than 7,000 police force in 118 companies throughout Seoul. A fence was encircled the day before in Gwanghwamun Square, and police officers are watching the trends in major facilities and alleys in the city, such as near the square.
Police buses are waiting in the vicinity of Gwanghwamun Square, Seoul Government Complex, Gyeongbokgung Station, Seoul Museum of History, and Jongno Fire Station. In preparation for vehicle demonstrations, wooden checkpoints for passing vehicles are also being carried out in about 30 places, including the city entrance.
The reason the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the police are so nervous is because of the rapid spread of a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) after the national gathering in Tokyo on Liberation Day last year.
At the time, quarantine authorities and police banned most of the city’s rallies. However, after the court approved a 100-person rally in front of the Dongwha Duty Free Shop in Jongno-gu, thousands of participants flocked and eventually grew into a large-scale urban rally of over 10,000.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the police have also been reported in the urban assembly prohibited area or banned the assembly of more than 10 participants, but the Seoul Administrative Court limited the number of participants to the assembly of the Free Korea Corps in front of Gwanghwamun to 20-30, allowing conditionally did.
The gatherings of 9 or less people reported to 150 places in Seoul subway stations and traditional markets this afternoon by the Republic of Korea are also small, but participants can come from all over the country. However, the Seoul city judges that the possibility of the large-scale increase of the assembly is still small.
An official from the Seoul Metropolitan Government explained, “It is understood that there is no trend to hold a rally while violating the current quarantine regulations.”
As the number of participants is limited to 9 even outside the assembly prohibited area, the police are planning to respond flexibly by putting a fence according to the number of participants at the site.
The police said, “Unreported illegal assembly will be restrained from the stage of assembly by participants, forced dissolution of participants who do not respond to the request to refrain from assembly, and will be arrested immediately if violence is exercised against public officials.”
Sejong Center access road blocked by fence▶ Click here for a larger view
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