Seoul, March 9 (IANS) Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to gather in South Korea’s capital city, Seoul, on Sunday to rally for or against impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol a day after his surprise release from detention.
According to police, Sarang Jeil Church, led by conservative activist pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon, is scheduled to hold a Sunday service outdoors near the presidential residence in central Seoul at 11 a.m.
Conservative civic group Angry Blue is scheduled to hold a separate rally opposing Yoon’s impeachment at Bosingak Pavilion at 1 p.m. before marching along Jongno 3-ga street, reports Yonhap news agency.
An opposing rally by a group of activists calling for Yoon’s immediate ouster was held overnight just outside of Seoul’s Gyeongbok Palace, and the group plans to hold a press conference outside the nearby government complex at 11 a.m. to declare a week of “emergency action” urging Yoon’s removal from office.
At 2 p.m., the group will begin a march from the National Palace Museum, with a reported attendance of 100,000 people, leading to partial road closures in the area.
At 7 p.m. it will hold another rally in Gwanghwamun.
Large-scale rallies have been held for months since Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law in December.
On Saturday, he was released from the detention centre where he had been held since mid-January on charges of leading an insurrection after a court ruled that his detention was invalid.
This comes a day after a man, presumed to be supporting impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, was in critical condition on Friday after setting himself on fire, police said.
The 79-year-old man, whose name was withheld, set fire to himself on the rooftop of a building near Seoul City Hall at around noon, according to the police.
He was taken to a hospital and remained in serious condition, Yonhap news agency reported.
The man carried printed materials denouncing the opposition bloc while supporting Yoon.
–IANS
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