Japan Press Weekly

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2008 December 23 - 2009 January 6 [OKINAWA]

Government seeks court order against Okinawa citizens opposing construction of U.S. helipad

The Defense Ministry’s Okinawa Defense Bureau has petitioned a court to allow it to remove 15 residents staging a sit-in in opposition to the construction of helipads for U.S. forces in Kunigam-gun (county), Okinawa Prefecture.

Akahata learned this fact on December 25 when residents visited the Defense Bureau to lodge a protest against the Defense Bureau action, which they say is repressive and urged the government agency to drop the petition.

About 50 people assembled in front of the Okinawa Defense Bureau to stage a protest after it refused to accept the petition.

Later in the day, representatives of the residents group held a news conference to call on the public to raise voices in protest against the government’s unjustifiable legal action and demanded that it drop the petition.

The residents’ group has held the sit-in since July 2, 2007 in protest against the construction that was begun in disregard of legal requirements such as obtaining an environmental impact assessment. So far, around 10,000 residents have taken part in the sit-in. The Okinawa Defense Bureau claims that the protestors are blocking traffic.

The Japanese and U.S. governments in 1996 agreed to return some U.S. base sites in Okinawa ostensibly in order “to reduce Okinwans’ burden of U.S. bases,” including the U.S. Forces’ “Northern Training Area” located in a forest in northern Okinawa. The two governments at the time also decided to construct six new helipads at the Takae district of Higashi Village, Kunigami-gun. As a result, residents were forced to shoulder an additional burden because the Takae district will be surrounded by newly constructed helipads.

Takae district residents twice held rallies and adopted resolutions in opposition to the helipads construction by stating, “Our peaceful lives will be threatened. We are fear about accidents, including helicopters crashes.”

Since the 1972 reversion to Japan of the administrative rights over Okinawa, 6 U.S. military helicopters have crashed in the U.S. Marine Corps Northern Training Area, 18 soldiers were killed and one was never found.