‘Over a million’ brave cold at anti-Park rally
SEOUL: Up to 1.3 million protesters braved sleet and freezing temperatures here yesterday to demand President Park Geun-hye resign over a corruption scandal or face impeachment, organisers said.
Participants raised candles, sung and danced while chanting “Arrest Park Geun-hye” and “Throw Park into jail”, with cries from the main rally site reportedly reaching the presidential Blue House 1.5km away.
The figure offered by organisers would make this the largest of a series of huge weekly protests that began a month ago, after an influencepeddling scandal engulfed the president.
Police put the turnout at 260,000. At 8 pm, demonstrators put out their candles, only to relight them a minute later as a warning that their protests would not burn out until Park left office.
“I don’t think Park would step down voluntarily. We need to raise our voice as much as possible to encourage Parliament to push through with its move to impeach her,” Lee Seung-Cheol, a 23-year-old student, said.
There was a festive mood among protesters, who were wearing raincoats and clutching umbrellas to protect themselves against the cold and wet weather. holding banners AFP pic
“I came here because I wanted to show my children that people are the owner of this country, not the power holders,” Shim Kyu-Il, a 47year-old company employee, said.
The weekend rallies have been growing in size over the past month, attracting an estimated one million people two weeks ago, and are among the largest seen in South Korea since the pro-democracy protests of the 1980s.
So far, they have been largely peaceful, with families, high school
in Seoul students and farmers participating.
Park has apologised over the influence-peddling scandal involving her long-time confidante, Choi Soon-sil, who has been arrested for fraud and abuse of power, but has defied calls to step down. AFP