Japan Press Weekly

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2008 April 9 - 15 [US FORCES]

Citizens rally in protest against U.S. serviceman’s murder of taxi driver

About 200 people held a rally in Yokosuka City on April 14 in protest against the murder of a taxi driver in March by a U.S. serviceman stationed at the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base.

The rally adopted a resolution demanding that the U.S. military bases, the source of crimes against Japanese citizens, be closed, that the Japanese and U.S. governments apologize and pay compensation to the victim’s family, and that the Japan-U.S. agreement on the status of U.S. forces in Japan be revised.

Speaking on behalf of the organizers, Katano Kenji, president of Kanagawa Prefectural Federation of Trade Unions, said it is important to increase calls for the military bases to be dismantled and oppose the planned deployment of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that would strengthen the functions of the Yokosuka base.

Yamazaki Masanori, whose wife was murdered in Yokosuka in January 2006 by a sailor of the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, said, “The U.S. military says that strict discipline will be enforced to prevent crimes, but crimes persist. The best way is to close down all the bases in Japan.”

After the rally in a park near the murder site, the participants walked in demonstration, passing the gate of the U.S. base, holding a banner reading, “U.S. base, a threat to human rights, out!”
- Akahata, April 15, 2008