An Okinawan town rises up in opposition to U.S. training site

About 600 residents of a town on May 20 assembled to express their opposition to the U.S. plan to construct a counter-urban guerrilla training facility at U.S. Marines Corps Camp Hansen in the central Okinawan town of Kin.

The town mayor and the town assembly chair were among participants at the rally sponsored by the Kin Town government and its assembly. The rally adopted a unanimous resolution in protest against the U.S. forces showing no intention to cancel the construction plan as well as against the Japanese government that approved the plan in disregard of the town residents' strong opposition.

A 50-year-old housewife participating in the rally said in anger, "Stray bullets from U.S. bases sometimes come into our residential areas. Why does the United States want to build a combat training facility in such a small town?"

In 1988, the U.S. forces forcibly constructed an anti-urban guerrilla training facility, but aroused strong local opposition, and the then U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle had to dismantle the facility in 1992.

However in 1995, the U.S. forces constructed a building for shooting, a facility for assault exercises, and an outdoor live fire training range without informing the local residents.

On the grounds that these facilities became too old, the U.S. forces want to have a new urban-warfare training facility.

This was brought to light in reply from a foreign ministry official to Japanese Communist Party Akamine Seiken at a House of Representative Committee meeting on March 12.

About 60 percent of Kin Town's land is occupied by U.S. bases, with more than 6,000 U.S. marines in the 10,000-population town. For half a century, the town has suffered from accidents that include stray bullets and the noise pollution caused by live-fire training. (end)