The national police manager said Tuesday that the police system was inappropriate on the evening of the drama, despite the indices of an “imminent danger”.
Le Monde with AFP
Several days after the deadly stampede which left at least 156 dead on Saturday evening in Seoul, the first responsibilities emerge. The chief of the national police, Yoon Hee-Keun, judged on Tuesday 1 er November “insufficient” the reaction of the police on the evening of the drama, however knowing that “that a major crowd ‘was brought together even before the accident occurs, suggesting an imminent danger. “
“I would like to seize the opportunity to apologize sincere to the public for this accident, as a minister responsible for the security of people,” the South Korean Minister of the Interior, Lee Lee on Tuesday before the Parliament. Blood-min, before tilting his head in front of the elected officials and the cameras.
About 100,000 people were expected, but due to the unofficial nature of the event, the police or the local authorities managed the crowd actively. Many young people are among the 156 dead and dozens of injured, gathered at the first Halloween celebration from the Pandemic in Seoul, in the cosmopolitan district of Itaewon.
137 police officers deployed
The police admitted on Monday having deployed only 137 agents, while stressing that this figure was greater than those of the Halloween celebrations in previous years. Meanwhile, 6,500 civil servants were however mobilized for another demonstration in the capital, in which only 25,000 people participated, according to local media.
The South Korean police are mistresses in the control of crowds, in a country where the numerous and frequent manifestations are often supervised by a number of agents higher than that of the participants. But, in the case of Halloween festivities in Itaewon, there was no designated organizer. The revelers gathered in the neighborhood to attend various events in bars, clubs and restaurants.
The South Korean president, Yoon Suk-Yeol, judged Tuesday that his country was to urgently improve his system for managing numerous crowds following the disaster. “People’s safety is important,” hammered the head of state at a government meeting, “whether or not there is an organizer at an event”.
lack of anticipation
m. Yoon called on the country to acquire “advanced digital skills” to improve its crowd management. The town hall of Seoul already has a real -time crowd control system which uses mobile phones data to predict the size of the assistance to an event, but it was not used on Saturday evening in Itaewon, According to local media.
The authorities of the Itaewon district also did not deploy security patrols, officials having declared that the Halloween event was considered to be “a phenomenon” rather than a “festival”, which would have required An official crowd control plan.
That night, tens of thousands of people rushed into a narrow alley. Eye witnesses have described how, in the absence of a police or control of the crowd, disoriented revelers have pushed, jostled and crushed people stuck in the alley.
The day after the drama, criticisms rushed on social networks against the authorities, accused of lack of anticipation. Many users have accused the police of having completely omitted to control the crowd, leaving too many people massaging around the Itaewon metro station and in the alleys where the deadly stampede occurred.