Demonstrations over ballot shortage enter fourth day
Crowds swell, 'election fraud' chants grow louder
Protesters turn on each other in atmosphere of suspicion
False 'fake police' claims spread on social media
Protests that were largely peaceful over the weekend turned sharper Monday as demonstrations against the ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections entered their fourth day at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul. Demonstrators blocked handball players from retrieving equipment from the arena and drove out fellow participants they accused of being agitators, hurling insults as they did so.
Around 4 p.m. Monday, more than 1,000 people gathered in front of the handball arena at Olympic Park, waving South Korean flags and chanting "fraudulent election — hold a new vote" and "Stop the Steal" in protest over the ballot shortage. "Stop the Steal" is a slogan used by those alleging election fraud.
The crowd kept growing throughout the day. An unofficial police estimate put attendance at around 1,600 at noon, and numbers climbed sharply into the afternoon.
An atmosphere of suspicion and exclusion took hold. When one participant, identified only as A, wandered through the crowd wearing a Japanese anime character mask, other demonstrators surrounded him and, without any basis, shouted that he was a member of Daejinyon — the Progressive Alliance of University Students — before forcing him out. Dozens of protesters encircled A and directed insults at his family before nearby police stepped in to prevent further confrontation.
As he was pushed out, A denied the accusation. "I am not from Daejinyon. I came here on Friday to see Jeon Han-gil, and Monday is my second visit," he said. "I wore this costume simply to add some fun to the rally. I never expected to be suspected like this."
A dispute over an American flag also broke out. A participant identified as B confronted a 60-year-old protester surnamed Lim, who was carrying both a South Korean and an American flag. "If you bring out the American flag, we won't even get 3,000 people," B said, demanding Lim put it away.
Lim and his companions pushed back, saying they had brought it as a symbol of the South Korea-US alliance and saw nothing wrong with that. B replied that he could not understand why anyone would carry an American flag at a rally in an independent country. The argument drew a crowd of onlookers before B eventually walked away.
Members of South Korea's youth women's national handball team also had a difficult encounter Monday morning when they came to the arena to retrieve training equipment. The team had a practice session scheduled ahead of the World Championship on June 24, but has been struggling to train because the protest has blocked off the handball arena.
The players were stopped by demonstrators as they tried to remove their gear to train at nearby Korea National Sport University. Opinions among the protesters were divided — some said the athletes should be allowed through, while others insisted their bags be searched first.
The players were allowed to leave only after repeatedly pleading with the crowd. After they departed, some demonstrators turned on those who had argued for letting the athletes through, accusing them of being informants.
The players needed internationally certified competition balls — equipment not available in ordinary stores — for their training session.
The protests against the ballot shortage are now in their fourth day. Inside the arena, around 380 ballot boxes and ballots from Songpa-gu — counting already completed — remain in place. Election commission staff have all withdrawn from the site.
Police had deployed approximately 350 riot officers as of Monday to prepare for any sudden developments.
Social media posts have circulated alongside footage of the deployed officers, making baseless claims that they are "foreign police" or "fake police." The Korean National Police Agency issued a press notice Monday afternoon saying "unverified speculation and posts damaging individuals' reputations are spreading," and urged the public to stop spreading groundless falsehoods that "undermine the morale of 140,000 police officers across the country who are quietly doing their best to protect public safety, and make it harder to carry out lawful enforcement."
20ki@heraldcorp.com
