Japan Press Weekly

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2016 February 24 - March 1 [US FORCES]

Citizens protest USS Blue Ridge’s entry into Osaka Port

Pacifist and antinuclear groups in Osaka staged a rally at Osaka Port on February 24 in protest against the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet flagship Blue Ridge which entered the port on that day.

The Blue Ridge is scheduled to stay in port from February 24 through 27. On February 22, the group of the Japanese Communist Party members of the Osaka City Assembly and other civic organizations jointly urged the mayor not to permit the USS entry into the port.

At the rally, Komatsu Masaaki, secretary-general of the Osaka Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Osaka Gensuikyo), said, “The city assembly in 1994 adopted the resolution on the peaceful use of Osaka Port. We cannot accept the warship’s call at our commercial trading port.”

JCP assemblyperson Kohara Takashi stressed, “It is absolutely intolerable that the U.S. forces are trying to create a fait accompli for military use of the port.”

Protesters shouted at the battleship in chorus, “Get out, Blue Ridge!” and “Let’s protect our peaceful port!”

Past related article:
> JCP urges Osaka mayor to disallow US warship’s entrance into Osaka Port [February 23, 2016]