Police Attempt to Disperse Protesters Blocking Jamsil 7-dong Polling Station

Physical Clashes Expected if Attempting to Remove Ballot Boxes

Police Deploy 1,000 Officers from 18 Riot Squads to the Scene

The police deployed riot squads to disperse protesters in front of the Je2 Polling Station in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, where ballot boxes could not be removed due to a shortage of ballots for the 9th Nationwide Local Elections.

Starting at 7:30 a.m. on June 5, the police deployed approximately 1,000 officers from 18 riot squads to the Je2 Polling Station in Jamsil 7-dong, facing off against protesters blocking the removal of ballot boxes. The Songpa Police Station in Seoul requested that the protesters disperse voluntarily.

Residents and protesters including YouTubers are resisting in front of the Je2 Polling Station in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, where ballot boxes cannot be taken out due to a shortage of ballots for the 9th nationwide local elections. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

A police official stated, "We have received an explicit request for cooperation from the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission to help maintain order at the site during the transportation of ballot boxes," and further warned, "Anyone who assaults, threatens, or detains election officials or damages ballot papers or other election management facilities and equipment may be punished under Article 224 of the Public Official Election Act."

The official continued, "Acts causing serious noise and obstruction of passage are causing significant inconvenience to residents," and reiterated, "Anyone who pushes or assaults police officers may be punished under Article 126 of the Criminal Act."

However, as more protesters gather, concerns are rising over the possibility of both minor and major physical clashes. Riot police are forming a human barricade and are controlling access to the apartment entrance and the polling station's entry and exit points.

This site is one of 14 polling stations in Seoul that experienced a shortage of ballots. On the day of the main vote, residents who could not vote by 6:00 p.m. were given waiting tickets, and voting was extended until 10:00 p.m. Currently, there are about 2,000 ballots inside the two ballot boxes that have not yet been removed. These must be counted before the election of Oh Se-hoon as Seoul Mayor and others can be legally confirmed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.