Court Rules Daegu City Must Pay 7 Million Won Compensation for Blocking Queer Festival

The court ruled that Daegu City's response to block the 'Queer Culture Festival' event on the grounds of not obtaining a road occupancy permit was unjust.

Daegu City confronts police at Daegu Queer Festival site. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 24th, Judge An Min-young of the 21st Civil Division of Daegu District Court ordered Daegu Mayor Hong Jun-pyo and Daegu City to jointly pay 7 million won to the plaintiff in a 40 million won damages lawsuit filed by the Daegu Queer Culture Festival Organizing Committee.

However, the court dismissed the plaintiff's claim for damages related to defamation, stating that Mayor Hong's criticism of the queer festival on his personal social media (SNS) constituted an expression of opinion.

Earlier, on June 17 of last year, Daegu City and the festival organizing committee clashed over issues such as installing the festival stage in the Jung-gu Dongseong-ro public transportation-only zone.

Daegu City also filed a complaint with the Daegu Prosecutors' Office against eight individuals, including the Daegu Police Chief and seven officials from the festival organizing committee, accusing them of obstructing legitimate road management duties.