SEOUL, South Korea >> Seoul police assigned 137 officers to manage a crowd of Halloween revelers anticipated to number over 100,000 over the weekend — a decision that has come under intense criticism following the deaths of more than 150 people when the group surged.

By comparison, nearly 7,000 police officers were sent to another part of the South Korean capital on Saturday to monitor dueling protests that drew tens of thousands but still fewer people than flocked to Itaewon the same night. Even the task force created to investigate why the crowd surged is more three times larger than the detail assigned to crowd control.

The national government has insisted there was no way to predict the crowd would get out of control.

Experts disagree, saying deploying so few police officers showed officials were poorly prepared despite knowing ahead of time that there would be a huge gathering following the easing of virus restrictions in recent months. – The Associated Press