Thousands of people gathered in central Seoul on Saturday for the annual Seoul Queer Culture Festival, while a conservative Christian group held a counter-rally nearby, in a now-familiar standoff that reflects South Korea’s continuing divide over LGBTQ rights.
According to organisers and police, the festival’s organising committee set up a stage and around 70 booths from 11am local time, with the main festival beginning in the afternoon. The parade, the centrepiece of the event, was scheduled to begin at 4pm and run for approximately 3km along central Seoul. Organisers told police they expected around 50,000 people to attend, Yonhap News Agency reported.
A conservative Christian group held its own counter-rally from early afternoon, around 700 metres from the festival venue, with organisers there expecting a turnout of around 30,000 people and plans for their own march through the area.
By 2pm, real-time urban population data provided by the Seoul city administration showed around 15,000 people had already gathered across the two events.
The annual festival has long drawn both strong support and vocal opposition in South Korea, where same-sex marriage remains legally unrecognised and repeated efforts to pass a comprehensive anti-discrimination law have stalled in parliament. Despite the scale of both gatherings, there have been no clashes between the rival events in previous years.
