Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2011 June 29 - July 5 [US FORCES]

Sit-in against US helipads construction in Takae marks its 4th anniversary

Residents of the Takae district of Okinawa’s Higashi Village on July 3 held a rally to commemorate the 4th anniversary of their sit-in protest against the construction of U.S. military helipads.

About 500 people from across the country attended the rally.

The residents began the sit-in protest on July 2, 2007, when the Okinawa Defense Bureau forcibly started the construction, and have been calling on the government to sit with them at a negotiation table. Since then, the sit-in has taken place non-stop. The action is being carried out 24 hours a day because the bureau announced the resumption of the construction in July.

At the rally, representative of the Nago Council against the Construction of U.S. On-Sea Heliport Gushiken Toru (Japanese Communist Party member of the Nago City Assembly) and representatives from various organizations supporting the sit-in expressed their determination to “block the government plan to build new U.S. bases in Henoko and in Takae.”

A message from JCP House of Representatives member Akamine Seiken was read out. JCP lawmakers in Okinawa’s local assemblies, including the prefectural assembly, took part in the rally.