First Weekend Rally After Easing Social Distancing to Level 1... No Major Clashes

First Weekend Rally After Easing 'Under 100 Participants' Rule
Ends Without Major Clashes...No Large Crowd Gathering

On the 9th, Hangul Day, the police are controlling the area around Gwanghwamun Square to block sudden rallies and demonstrations in the city center. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] On the 17th, the first weekend after social distancing was eased to level 1, gatherings with fewer than 100 participants took place in various locations in downtown Seoul. Most of the gatherings maintained order, and there were no large crowds.

Conservative groups such as the Liberty Solidarity and the Taegeukgi Revolution National Movement Headquarters held rallies demanding the president's resignation near Gyeongbokgung Station in Jongno-gu and near the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu in the afternoon. The number of participants did not exceed the initially reported 90 people. Liberty Solidarity has reported plans to hold similar-sized weekend rallies every Saturday and Sunday until the 14th of next month.

The People's Action for a New Korea (SaeHanguk) also held a "drive-through" vehicle protest on the same day in the afternoon. Although about 50 vehicles were expected to participate, only 11 vehicles took part in the protest. They started from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu as planned, passed by the residences of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk and Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae, and concluded the vehicle protest at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP).

In addition, the Taegeukgi Revolution National Movement Headquarters (Gukbon) held a gathering with fewer than 100 participants near the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, and the Delivery Workers' Overwork Death Countermeasures Committee held a rally condemning CJ Logistics in front of Euljiro 1(il)-ga Station in Jung-gu and marched to the CJ Logistics headquarters in Seosomun-dong.

At Gwanghwamun Square, a prohibited area for gatherings, one-person protests took place, but no crowd formation occurred. About 1,200 small-scale gatherings were reported in the Seoul area that day, and there were no physical clashes or arrests of protest participants during the events.

Earlier, as social distancing was downgraded to level 1, the Seoul Metropolitan Government relaxed the ban on gatherings across the city from groups of 10 or more to groups of 100 or more. However, some areas in downtown Seoul, including the Gwanghwamun to Seoul Station area, Jeokseon Rotary, the fountain plaza in front of the Blue House, and parts of roads in Seodaemun-gu, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Gangnam-gu, and Dongjak-gu, remain designated as prohibited zones for gatherings. Gatherings with fewer than 100 participants must comply with seven quarantine rules, including ▲temperature checks ▲registration ▲mask-wearing ▲maintaining a distance of at least 2 meters, among others.