Thousands of anti-government protesters, armed with umbrellas and raincoats, marched through the bustling streets of the South Korean capital on Saturday, ignoring official pleas to stay home amid a rise in coronavirus infections.
Municipal officials in Seoul have sought to ban the heavy ties by conservative and Christian groups planning a holiday to celebrate the nation’s 75th anniversary of the liberation of Japanese colonial rule at the end of the World War II.
But a court upheld some of them, citing civil liberties after Protestants challenged the city’s administrative mandate banning the rallies.
The protesters, many of them wearing masks and carrying the South Korean flag, paraded through rain near Seoul’s presidential palace, asking Liberal President Moon Jae-in to step down over what they see as policy mistakes, kowtowing to nuclear-armed North Korea and election corruption.
Some South Korean conservatives insist that the April parliamentary elections convincingly won by Moon’s party were rigged, although most experts see such claims as false conspiracy theories.
Some protesters clashed with police who closely followed the marchers, but there were no immediate reports of major clashes or injuries.
Some of the marchers apparently came from a church in northern Seoul that was shut down after it was linked to dozens of coronavirus infections. Health officials plan to isolate and test some 4,000 members of the church, led by ultra-conservative pastor Jun Kwang-hun, a vocal critic of Moon who has often led anti-government stories over the past year.
The demonstrations took place when the government announced stronger social distance limits for the greater capital area following a spike in COVID-19 infections.
The two-week measures, which begin on Sunday, will allow authorities in Seoul and neighboring Gyeonggi province to close high-risk facilities such as nightclubs, karaoke rooms, cinemas and buffet restaurants if they fail to comply with precautionary measures. , including distance, temperature controls, keeping customer lists and requiring masks.
Fans will only be banned from professional baseball and football for just a few weeks after health authorities allowed teams in spectators to occupy a portion of the seats at each match.
The 166 new infections the country reported Saturday represented the highest daily jump in five months.
