15,000 condemn lawless war by U.S. and Britain

At the call of 24 public figures, about 15,000 workers, students, and public figures braved the rain on the evening of April 2 to attend a rally in Meiji Park in Tokyo to demand an immediate halt to the Iraq war.

Former NHK announcer Sakai Hiroshi, one of the public figures who initiated the appeal for the rally, emceed the rally and interviewed participants and local organizers of anti-war activities.

A participant from Nagoya reported on a union workers' demonstration with 3,000 people forming the human letters spelling "NO WAR." He said this movement received press coverage. An Osaka construction worker reported that his co-workers mobilized 200 cement-mixer trucks for a demonstration calling for peace, honking in unison in front of the U.S. Consulate in Osaka.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo was a main speaker in the rally. He stated that democracy cannot be established from the outside by war, and that no matter how bad the Hussein regime is, only Iraqi citizens have the right to decide the course of their country. The war we are viewing on TV is a war of aggression that tramples on international rules, interferes with Iraq's internal affairs, and violates Iraq's sovereignty, Shii said.

A 31-year-old participant said, "In a magazine, I saw photos of the Iraqi citizens who were killed in bombings. I came to the rally today because I couldn't sit still. I want the mass media to report such a reality more accurately." (end)