Okinawan people express opposition to war

About 500 Okinawans held a rally on October 30 in front of the Okinawa
Prefectural Office in Naha City to have their opposition to the retaliatory
war known to the world.

A member of the All Japan Transport Workers Union Okinawa Aviation Branch
said that Naha Airport is a symbol of peace which should not be used to send
the Self-Defense Forces abroad to take part in wars.

The Air SDF transport planes used its Naha Base on October 6 on their way
from the Komaki Base in Aichi Prefecture to Islamabad to take tents and
blankets to Afghan refugees.

Representatives of the Okinawa Social Mass Party and the Japanese
Communist Party made speeches, and a message of JCP House of Representatives
Member Akamine Seiken, who was in Pakistan as a member of the JCP Diet study
team, was read out.

After the rally, the participants demonstrated through the major streets
of Naha City. (end)