University, police personnel mobilized to separate two groups with opposing views on President Yoon Suk Yeol's fate
Competing rallies – one supporting and the other denouncing suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol – were held Monday at Seoul National University in Seoul, the nation’s most prestigious university and the embattled leader’s alma mater.
With the dueling rallies beginning with several students and growing to a few hundred, including participants from outside of the university, a rare scene of heightened security unfolded in Acropolis Plaza, the main plaza of the SNU campus in Gwanak-gu, southern Seoul, with school staff and police mobilized to keep them apart. University staff and police officers formed a human barricade and set up a police line to prevent any clashes.
Located right in front of the Central Library, the protests sparked a flurry of noise complaints from library users.
Monday marked the second time competing rallies took place simultaneously on SNU’s campus over the fate of Yoon, who is on trial for impeachment on charges of leading an insurrection and abuse of power, related to his botch Dec. 3 martial law declaration. A similar clash of pro- and anti-Yoon protesters took place on Saturday.
A SNU official said Monday, "We are on high alert to prevent a recurrence of the clashes (of protesters) that occurred on Feb. 15."
Suspecting that both rallies involved outsiders, the university had requested police assistance, the official said.
Monday’s rival events began when four SNU students, in support of the embattled Yoon, pushed for a public statement demanding his reinstatement and immediate release from detention. With signatures from 83 students and 478 alumni already collected, they planned to gather more signatures and read out their statement.
As word spread, the anti-Yoon side, including those from “Korea University Students Progressive Union,” organized another rally at the same spot to call for Yoon’s ouster.
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