JCP takes to the streets to protest against SDF dispatch

The Japanese Communist Party organized a variety of actions throughout the country on December 13 in opposition to the government plan to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.

In Tokyo's Itabashi Ward, the JCP was among 16 organizations, including labor unions and citizens' groups, that organized a demonstration attended by about 400 residents. A 20-year-old woman said, "Other Japanese people might kill or be killed (in Iraq). I can't support such a situation."

In Kyoto, JCP House of Councilors member Nishiyama Tokiko took part in a "Candle march" organized by the Democratic Youth League of Japan Kyoto Prefectural Committee. About 50 protesters marched in shopping streets decorated with Christmas ornaments.

JCP members in Komae City in Tokyo collected signatures in support of the call for canceling the plan to send the SDF units to Iraq. Fifty-four people signed their petition within an hour.

The participants also distributed the paper published by the JCP city assembly members to inform the public that Mayor Yano Yutaka expressed his opposition to the SDF dispatch plan at the assembly meeting. (end)