Police officers patrol in front of Seoul Western District Court on Friday, amid ongoing protests by supporters of President Yoon Suk Yeol. (Yonhap)
Police officers patrol in front of Seoul Western District Court on Friday, amid ongoing protests by supporters of President Yoon Suk Yeol. (Yonhap)

Supporters of President Yoon Suk Yeol are targeting Seoul Western District Court for issuing the warrant that enabled authorities to take Yoon into custody.

The rallies that began Thursday night continued into Friday morning, with some forming a human blockade to stop the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials from delivering the application for the new warrant. Yoon is being detained on a 48-hour detention warrant that expires at 9:05 p.m. Friday. The CIO is widely expected to request sometime before Friday's deadline a warrant that would authorize him to be held for up to 20 days.

The pro-Yoon protests were initially held in front of the court, but have since relocated to a nearby court due to police orders. Police at around 11 p.m. Thursday took into custody a protester in his 20s for obstruction of the performance of official duties after he attempted to close the gate of the court.

The Seoul Western District Court has been targeted by avid followers of Yoon, who became the first South Korean president while still in office to be arrested Wednesday, since it issued the warrant for the president's arrest. The 64-year-old president is being held at the Seoul Detention Center for criminal investigation regarding insurrection and abuse of power charges related to his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law and the allegedly illegal orders that followed.

The defiant Yoon has said that both the CIO's probe into him and the warrant for his arrest were illegal, a claim that was shot down by the Seoul Central District Court on Thursday. But the court decision does not appear to have dissuaded his followers, who have been carrying out protests and online attacks against those supporting Yoon's impeachment or the investigation into him.

On the heels of Yoon's arrest Wednesday, a number of apparent Yoon supporters flooded the comment section of popular singer IU's social media, berating her for supporting demonstrations that called for the impeachment of the conservative president.

An unidentified user of the online platform DC Inside, many users of which have far-right views, posted Thursday that he would "behead" the judge who deliberated on the Seoul Central District Court's aforementioned court review on legality of Yoon's arrest.