Organisers of a massive protest calling for the resignation of South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said one million people had turned out for the demonstration, the Yonhap news agency reported.
But police, who had originally planned on a crowd of around 170,000, put the turnout at 260,000, Yonhap said.
The protest was expected to be one of the largest anti-government protests in decades.
On the back of official appeals for calm, around 25,000 police were on standby for the third instalment in a series of weekly mass demonstrations, triggered by a corruption scandal that has left Ms Park fighting for her political life.
In an effort to soothe public anger, she issued several apologies, reshuffled her top officials and even agreed to relinquish some of her extensive executive powers, but the popular calls for her to step down have been relentless.
"We are feeling the weight of the serious public mood," a presidential spokesman acknowledged yesterday.
Most experts believe Ms Park, who has just over a year left of her single five-year term, will be able to ride out the crisis and remain in office, albeit with her authority and ability to govern seriously undermined.
Opposition parties have, so far, avoided direct calls for her to resign and appear more interested in extracting more concessions from Ms Park in terms of devolving power to the legislature.
In a televised press conference yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Joon-Sik voiced concerns at the possibility of "illegal collective action or violence" at today’s protest.
"We hope the public will cooperate so that the demonstration will be legal and peaceful," he said.
The two previous rallies were mostly peaceful, with a large number of families attending, including couples with infants and young children.
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