2,000 march in anti-war demonstration

Under the slogan, "Stop the war instead of discussing postwar reconstruction," about 2,000 people converged on the Ginza on April 12 and called for an immediate halt to the Iraq war. The demonstration called "Peace Action in Tokyo" was held as part of international action.

The demonstrators included chanting Buddhists and lawyers carrying umbrellas bearing the slogan, "We also oppose the wartime bills." Many participants were holding placards with photographs of wounded Iraqi children and the question, "Is this justice?"

A woman with her two children sleeping in a baby carriage, said, "Children in Iraq should also be able to sleep in peace."

On the same day, the Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) and the Japan Peace Committee held an anti-war street rally in a major shopping district of Tokyo.

About 100 (Hibakusha) atomic bomb survivors, musicians, poets, people of various religious faiths, and young people displayed photographs, played music, and appealed for peace. (end)