At 11 a.m. on the 3rd at City Hall Station on Seoul Subway Line 1. About 180 people, including people with disabilities and activists affiliated with the National Solidarity for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Jeon Jang Yeon), gathered on the platform. They held hand signs that read "Jeon Jang Yeon is not a group that encourages violence" and "Firing is murder."
About 200 police officers and Seoul Metro security guards were deployed to control the protesters. The protest narrowed movement through seven platform access points, and as protesters, security guards, and citizens mixed together, some parts of the platform became so narrow that only one person could barely pass. Four to six security guards holding light batons stood on both sides of the boarding doors to guide disembarking passengers. Some employees held 1-meter shields in case of possible clashes.
Marking the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Jeon Jang Yeon decided to continue a two-day nationwide rally starting with the platform protest that day. However, due to platform congestion, citizens experienced inconvenience for about an hour in passing through and boarding and disembarking from trains.
It also affected train operations. Some trains stopped for about 40 seconds, 10 seconds longer than the standard.
Jeon Jang Yeon demanded that Oh Se-hoon, the Seoul mayor, restore the "rights-centered public jobs." Jeon Jang Yeon argued that when the city abolished the rights-centered public jobs last year without consultation with the group, 400 people with severe disabilities were laid off. The rights-centered public jobs program is a project by the city that allows people with the most severe disabilities and those transitioning from institutions to perform duties ranging from cultural and artistic activities to disability rights advocacy and awareness improvement.
As the noise grew louder, a broadcast said, "Acts such as verbal abuse and shouting inside the station are prohibited under the Railroad Safety Act. Please stop the protest immediately and leave the station." Jeon Jang Yeon continued the rally.
Citizens complained of inconvenience. A 22-year-old college student, a person surnamed Cho, said, "It's not that I don't understand the protest, but it was inconvenient," and added, "As people crowded, they bumped into each other and it was dangerous." A 28-year-old office worker, a person surnamed Choi, said, "As the rally was held right as I got off the subway, I couldn't really understand the content and it was just inconvenient."
At around 12 p.m., Jeon Jang Yeon finished the rally at City Hall Station and took the subway to the National Assembly. They will hold a "march for democracy" in front of the National Assembly at 3 p.m. On that day at 7 p.m., they will hold the "Dec. 3 purge of insurrection cultural festival," and at 8 a.m. on the 4th, they plan to continue a subway boarding protest at Gwanghwamun Station on Line 5.