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Protesters block one of the entrances to the handball stadium in Seoul’s Olympic Park on June 16, 2026, as rallies continue over the ballot shortages in local elections earlier in the month. (pool photo)

As protests over ballot shortages during June 3’s local election entered their third week on Thursday, concerns are mounting as the protests become increasingly violent, including instances of self-harm, while unfounded conspiracy theories continue to circulate.
 
Seoul police arrested a man in his 30s on Wednesday night at the protests outside the handball stadium in Songpa District’s Olympic Park after he brandished a bladed weapon and used it on himself. The man was booked for aggravated intimidation. 

The man was seized by riot police and taken to a hospital. He is said to be in a stable condition. 

The man had threatened bystanders in front of Gate 1-3 of the stadium, waving a weapon in one hand and the Korean flag in the other while repeatedly shouting, “They’re killing people in there!”
 
After a video showing someone welding inside a doorway located beneath the stairs next to Gate 1-3 of the handball stadium went viral on the microblogging platform Threads on Thursday, baseless claims began to spread that bad actors were making “human sacrifices” by herding the protestors into the gym and either starting a fire or a stampede. 

The man arrested by police appeared to have been influenced by this conspiracy theory.
 
However, it was later revealed that the welding work was carried out by facility management for protective purposes after some protestors had attempted to enter the gym without authorization.
 
The arrested man’s extreme reaction, fueled by conspiracy theories, is contributing to the spread of additional misinformation.

Unfounded assertions, such as claims that the man was a Chinese exchange student or that he had been a paid agitator meant to paint protestors in a negative light, are spreading on Threads. Songpa Police Station has confirmed that the man is a Korean national.
 
Claims based on hate-fueled conspiracy theories echoed throughout Thursday’s protest. 

“The Democratic Party is trying to let Chinese people into our country without visas to win the election,” an elderly man standing under a tree in front of Gate 2-1 of the gym shouted. “They’ll try to settle down here, but we can’t let the blood of the communists mix with that of our countrymen!” 

His cries were met with cheers.
 
“I’m here because I’m seething at the fact that the Lee Jae Myung administration is giving ethnic Koreans from China priority in buying apartments,” one middle-aged woman also shouted to fellow protestors.

By Jeong Bong-bi, staff reporter; Chung In-seon, staff reporter

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