By 4.30am, the streets round Yoon Suk Yeol’s hilltop residence felt like rush hour, filled with police and protesters regardless of the early hour.
Roads had been fully sealed off and hundreds of officers had been in place on the freezing winter morning, whereas a whole bunch of pro-Yoon supporters chanted aggressively whereas clutching crimson mild sticks and American flags.
Behind a number of police cordons, segregated for safety, a smaller crowd of anti-Yoon demonstrators had secured positions closest to the gates.
Tea and prompt noodle stations had been arrange, serving each side of the political divide.
“Cease the steal”, learn banners in English and Korean from Yoon’s supporters, referring to unfounded claims of election interference used to justify the martial regulation, whereas throughout got here chants of “Arrest him now!”
As daybreak broke and temperatures rose barely, the anti-Yoon camp’s temper turned nearly festive: singing, dancing and broadcasting dwell scenes from a number of angles because the operation to arrest South Korea’s impeached president started in earnest. It was buzzing.
In contrast to their failed try earlier this month, investigators got here ready. Tv footage confirmed investigators and police scaling the compound’s partitions with ladders. Others reportedly approached by means of mountain paths behind the residence.
Inside, clashes reportedly broke out with safety personnel, and a minimum of one individual was injured and evacuated by paramedics.
“The safety employees aren’t responding as aggressively as feared”, famous opposition lawmaker Han Chang-min on the scene. “Police are continuing whereas making an attempt to get most cooperation”.
Headlines started flashing that the compound’s defences had been slowly collapsing.
“Come out! Come out!” the anti-Yoon crowd cheered. “Go get him!” Regardless of the gravity of making an attempt to arrest a sitting president, there was an air of inevitability.
For 43 days since declaring martial regulation, a transfer that has thrown the nation into political chaos, Yoon has remained defiant in his fortress-like residence, protected by loyal safety forces. However now, his fort was crumbling.
‘You mentioned you’ll shield him’
At about 10.30am, police abruptly lined the roads additional. A convoy of automobiles emerged and departed. Inside moments, euphoria erupted from the pro-impeachment crowd: “They acquired him!”
Inside a minute, the police traces abruptly melted away because the compound’s important gates stood open. A whole lot of investigators and police streamed out like a river. From inside their cordoned space, jubilant protesters shouted “Thanks a lot!” and “You probably did a terrific job!” on the departing officers. Then they went again to rejoice to the tunes of Ok-pop.
On the opposite facet, Yoon’s supporters had been standing in shocked silence. Some collapsed in tears. “How can this be?” one girl wailed. One other man, visibly distraught, swore viciously on the crowd: “You mentioned you’ll shield him, however what did you do?”
Minutes earlier than his arrest, Yoon had launched one other defiant message. “As president who should shield the structure and authorized system of the Republic of Korea, my compliance with these unlawful and invalid procedures doesn’t imply I settle for them. It is just to forestall unsavoury bloodshed”.
He now holds the excellence of being the primary sitting South Korean president to be arrested, a dramatic fall for a frontrunner who simply weeks in the past had tried to impose army rule on his nation.
The morning’s occasions performed out like a dwell tv drama, with each growth broadcast throughout a number of information channels.
As his convoy arrived on the anti-corruption company’s places of work in Gwacheon, investigators ready to query him over revolt fees that might carry the loss of life penalty.
Yoon faces 48 hours of questioning, after which investigators should determine whether or not to hunt a warrant to detain him for as much as 20 days or launch him. In the meantime, the constitutional courtroom continues deliberating his impeachment. Technically, it may nonetheless reinstate him as president.
For now, although, many South Koreans had been merely processing the extraordinary scenes they’d witnessed. The siege was over. The president was in custody.
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