October 7&8, 2013
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2013 October 2 - 8 [US FORCES]
1,100 citizens rally to oppose Japan-US joint military exercise using Ospreys |
The exercise was initially scheduled to take place on October 7 at the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force Aibano training field in Shiga Prefecture, but it was postponed for one day.
On behalf of the organizing committee of the rally, a representative of a local group opposing the U.S. military drill in the prefecture said, “Let’s take the rally as a starting point for spreading among people the need for collaboration to oppose the Ospreys’ training exercises.”
A participant from Kochi Prefecture where flight training of the MV22s will be conducted under the guise of emergency drills reported that civil movements against the training have been increasing in the prefecture.
Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi delivered a speech in solidarity.
He cited the information released by the Defense Ministry that in the joint drill at the Aibano training area, the GSDF and the U.S. Marine Corps plan to hold heli-borne operation training by using the tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
Heli-borne operation is a tactic in which heli-borne combat forces alight in an enemy base in a surprise attack. The U.S. military repeatedly used this tactic in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
Ichida said, “It is unacceptable for the SDF to carry out jointly with the U.S. forces military training exercises involving airborne assault in other countries by using Ospreys in Japan while the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution prohibits such action.”
The rally adopted a resolution to strengthen public opinion opposing military assault exercises using Ospreys.
On the following day, delegates of civil groups in Takashima City which hosts the GSDF Aibano training field went to the GSDF Camp Imazu to submit the resolution and a petition calling for a halt to the joint exercise.
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