Don't dispatch SDF to Iraq; Stop Japan-U.S. exercises

About 700 people staged a protest against the planned dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq and the Japan-U.S. joint exercises in the western Japanese prefecture of Shiga.

The protesters held a rally near the SDF Aibano maneuver site about 50 kilometers northeast of Kyoto City and surrounded the site in a demonstration, chanting, "Abolish the wartime laws! Defend the peace Constitution!"

Joint live-fire exercises are scheduled for two weeks from October 27 by about 800 Okinawa-based U.S. Marines and the same number of Ground SDF members.

This will be the 7th such bilateral joint training since the first one in 1986. In the previous exercises in November 2000, they carried out nighttime live-fire drills, anti-chemical weapons exercises, and low-altitude flights by U.S. transport airplanes.

A protester said, "We are forced to endure noise from the GSDF Aibano base, such as firing and the rumbling of the ground. We want such exercises that will involve Japan in taking part in U.S. wars to be discontinued. Don't use Aibano for U.S. exercises for wars." (end)