On the 12th, ahead of the weekend, the blockade protest at the ballot-counting site (Olympic Handball Gymnasium) in Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul, is continuing.

With disruptions to the operations of organizations under the Korea Sports Council that have offices in the arena continuing, attention is on whether police will move to forcibly disperse the protesters during the day.

The number of participants in the blockade protest, which at one point last weekend swelled to tens of thousands, had fallen to several hundred on the morning of this day. All entrances to the arena remained blocked. Protesters encircled the venue, chanting slogans such as “election fraud” and “rerun the election.” As the day grew hotter, “air-conditioned buses” for participants to rest in also appeared at the site.

Monuments in the park around the arena and the ticket box were covered with hand-made placards posted by protesters. Some placards displayed expressions such as ‘commie’ and ‘Rip Jae-myeong.’

Over the 13~14 weekend, the protest crowds could grow further. Organizations under the Korea Sports Council held a press conference the previous day, requesting that “state authority be deployed.” The groups say their work has been halted all week, causing difficulties with various tasks and administrative processing. For this reason, some raise the possibility that police will move to forcibly disperse the protesters before weekend crowds increase further.