Disabled group vows subway protests on every workday

An advocacy group for people with disabilities continued morning rush hour protests on Tuesday, vowing to be near the presidential office every workday this year.

Members of the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination protest at the Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station in Jung District, central Seoul, on Tuesday, calling for better mobility services for disabled people. [YONHAP]

An advocacy group for people with disabilities continued morning rush hour protests on Tuesday, vowing to be near the presidential office every workday this year.

In a statement, the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD) said it was planning 260 protests this year on Seoul subway line No. 4 during the morning rush hour, which is every day except weekends and holidays.

The SADD said it would mainly protest around line No. 4's stop at Samgakji Station because it is near President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office.

While briefly apologizing to line No. 4 commuters, the group said it would put off its daily protests if Choo Kyung-ho, deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, agrees to a face-to-face meeting.

Since January 2021, the SADD has held over 80 protests at Seoul subway stations, urging the government to increase spending on mobility for disabled people. The protests, which involved SADD members in wheelchairs obstructing subway doors, have faced heavy public criticism because they were held at the busiest hours of the day and caused major delays.

The SADD resumed their protest on Monday for the first time in two weeks and attempted to get on subway cars at Samgakji Station, but were blocked by police and workers from Seoul Metro – operator of subway lines No. 1 through 6 – causing inconvenience to commuters trying to get on or off trains. SADD members who failed to get on subway cars in the morning held a sit-in until 10 p.m.

Seoul Metro maintains the protestors are violating the country’s Railway Safety Act and has threatened legal action.

On Tuesday morning, some 20 SADD members got on the subway at Sungshin Women’s University Station on line No. 4 at 8 a.m. and got off at Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station on the same line 40 minutes later. When they tried to get back on at the same Dongdaemun station, they were blocked by police and Seoul Metro workers.

The confrontation lasted for nearly six hours until 2:30 p.m., with nearly 200 police officers descending on the scene to block SADD members from getting on the trains.

About a dozen other SADD members including the group’s leader rallied at various other subway stations on line No. 4 Tuesday morning but weren’t blocked by police or Seoul Metro.

Last month, the protests were halted for nearly two weeks after the Seoul Central District Court handed down a ruling on the dispute, ordering SADD to pay Seoul Metro 5 million won ($3,900) for every five-minute delay it causes in subway operations. In the same verdict, the court advised SADD to stop its subway protests and Seoul Metro to install more elevators at 19 subway stations by 2024.

After the verdict, SADD said it would limit its protests to under five minutes and refrain from any actions that would cause delays in subway operations.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Seoul Metro said they wouldn’t accept the court’s mediation, saying any delay in subway operations was a non-starter.

Police are currently investigating some 30 SADD members for traffic and business obstruction, already recommending prosecution of at least 24 members.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]