At least 153 people died and scores more were injured in a stampede in central Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday night. Tens of thousands of revelers, some very young, celebrated Halloween for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.
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All day Sunday, the inhabitants of Seoul followed one another in front of the small alley where the crowd movement occurred. With drawn features, serious faces, many South Koreans came to lay flowers or words in tribute to the victims. Throughout the country, sadness and emotion dominate.
But many witnesses are already pointing the finger at the lack of a sufficient security device. Aiden Moon is one of them, he was one of those who tried to resuscitate people lying on the asphalt: “In these kinds of events before the pandemic, the government put up barriers and there were a lot of police, every forty-fifty meters. But last night, there were no police, we couldn’t get there. find police.”
“It was really a huge trauma, there was no place to move around. It was total chaos with people and cars on the street.”
Aiden Moon, witness to the stampedeat franceinfo
President Yoon Suk-yeol has declared a period of national mourning, and promised a rigorous investigation to establish the circumstances of the tragedy, which still remain unclear.
Many police were deployed throughout the day for protests, but local authorities announced on Thursday that only 200 police would be mobilized to deal with the tens of thousands of people who would pour into the streets of Itaewon this weekend. Anger and misunderstanding are beginning to rise and the population is waiting for answers.