Thousands of people gathered in central Seoul on Saturday for an annual LGBTQ pride parade, while a conservative Christian group held a nearby counter-rally, organisers and police said.
The Seoul Queer Culture Festival has long drawn both supporters of LGBTQ rights and vocal opposition from conservative religious groups in South Korea, where same-sex marriage is not legally recognised and efforts to pass a comprehensive anti-discrimination law have repeatedly stalled.
The festival's organising committee set up a stage and around 70 booths from 11 a.m. in central Seoul, with the main festival beginning in the afternoon.
The parade, centrepiece of the event, was scheduled to start at 4 p.m. and proceed for about 3 km, according to organisers and police.
Organisers had told police they expected 50,000 people to attend, Yonhap news agency reported.
A conservative Christian group held a counter-rally from early afternoon, about 700 metres from the pride festival venue. The group said it expected a turnout of 30,000 people and also planned to march.
There have been no clashes between the two gatherings in previous years.
As of 2 p.m., around 15,000 people had gathered in the area for the rival events, according to real-time urban population data provided by the Seoul city administration.
