By Park Hye-won, The Herald Business
The blockade protest at the Jamsil vote-counting site, sparked by a ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections, has entered its ninth consecutive day.
As of 9 a.m. Saturday, roughly 700 people had gathered around the handball arena at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul, according to an unofficial police estimate. Seoul Metropolitan Government real-time urban data put the total population inside Olympic Park at between 7,000 and 7,500. Those aged 60 and older accounted for the largest share of demonstrators, at 25.1 percent.
Chants at the scene remained unified around the slogans "rigged election, hold a new election" and "same-day counting, hand counting."
Turnout has dropped sharply compared with last weekend, when as many as 30,000 people converged on the site. Weekday crowds this week consisted largely of participants aged 60 and older, and speeches focused squarely on allegations of election fraud.
Last weekend, demonstrators had made a noticeable effort to distance themselves from American flags — seen as a symbol of far-right groups — and to reject partisan slogans. As the week wore on, however, that atmosphere gave way to participants acting on their own discretion.
At the site Saturday, figures who have publicly claimed the election was rigged — including Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the Freedom and Innovation Party, and Jeon Han-gil, a former Korean history lecturer — were seen encouraging protesters.
Jeon used a YouTube broadcast to claim that Oh Sang-taek, chief of the Seoul Songpa Police Station, who recently submitted his resignation, had done so after refusing to disperse the protest.
Meanwhile, police have launched an investigation into protesters who allegedly conducted an unauthorized search of the belongings of members of the women's youth national handball team at the Jamsil site. Police are also tracking suspects accused of coercion and assault against journalists at the protest scene.
klee@heraldcorp.com
