The bereaved families of the victims of the deadly Itaewon crowd crush have strongly protested the Constitutional Court’s decision to reject parliament’s impeachment of interior minister Lee Sang-min.

An association of victims’ families and a group of civic organizations held a news conference in front of the court building shortly after the ruling and claimed the court had exonerated the interior minister with its decision. 

They said the Constitutional Court had voluntarily denied the value of its existence and urged Lee to step down if he has a shred of shame left. 

During the news conference, a clash occurred between the bereaved families and members of conservative groups. 

The confrontation prompted a brief suspension of the news conference and resulted in three bereaved family members being transported to the hospital.

Earlier in the day, the Constitutional Court's nine-member bench said it would be difficult to constitutionally and legally consider the minister to have violated the laws on disaster and safety and public officials, and thus did not fail to fulfill his duty to protect the public.