Strengthening the boundaries of the March 1st assembly... Police alley arrangement and city access road check

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The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the police are also strengthening their boundaries as the March 1st Seoul city rally, centered on conservative groups, begins.

According to the police on the 1st, the Seoul Police Agency is preparing for an emergency by deploying more than 7,000 police force in 118 companies throughout Seoul on that day. A fence was encircled the day before in Gwanghwamun Square, and police officers are watching trends in major facilities and alleys in the city center, such as near the plaza.

Police buses are waiting in the vicinity of Gwanghwamun Square, Seoul Government Complex, Gyeongbokgung Station, Seoul Museum of History, and Jongno Fire Station. In preparation for vehicle demonstrations, wooden checkpoints for passing vehicles are also being carried out in about 30 places, including the entrance roads in the city center.

The reason the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the police are so nervous is because of the rapid spread of a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) after the national gathering in Tokyo on Liberation Day last year.

At the time, quarantine authorities and police banned most of the city’s rallies. However, after the court approved a 100-person rally in front of the Dongwha Duty Free Shop in Jongno-gu, thousands of participants flocked and eventually grew into a large-scale urban rally of over 10,000.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the police have also been reported in the city’s banned assembly area or banned the assembly of more than 10 participants, but the Seoul Administrative Court limited the number of participants to 20-30, and conditionally approved the assembly of the Free Korea Corps in front of Gwanghwamun. did.

The gatherings of 9 or less people reported to 150 places in Seoul subway stations and traditional markets this afternoon by the Republic of Korea are also small, but participants can come from all over the country. However, the possibility of the large-scale growth of the assembly is still small, the Seoul Metropolitan Government judges.

An official from the Seoul Metropolitan Government explained, “There is no trend to hold a rally while violating the current quarantine regulations.”

As the number of participants is limited to 9 even outside the assembly prohibited area, the police are planning to respond flexibly by impinging a fence according to the number of participants at the site.

The police said, “Unreported illegal assembly will be restrained from the stage of assembly by participants, forced dissolution of participants who do not respond to requests to refrain from assembly, and will be arrested immediately if violence is exercised against public officials.”