January 23, 2015
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2015 January 21 - 27 [POLITICS]
Okinawan lawmakers start sit-in protest against new US base construction |
On the first day of the three-day action, more than 50 members of the National Diet and local assemblies in Okinawa sat in in front of a gate at U.S. Camp Schwab, where anti-base citizens have been engaged in a sit-in for 200 days in protest against the forcible start of the preparatory work.
From the Japanese Communist Party, 20 members of the prefectural and municipal assemblies took part in the action.
Nago Mayor Inamine Susumu visited the sit-in site and gave a speech in solidarity. He said, “Japan’s democracy is facing a major challenge. Let the world know that we continue our fight against the Abe government’s strong measures by showing Okinawans’ spirit respecting nonviolence.”
JCP Okinawa Prefectural Assembly member Toguchi Osamu pointed out that the U.S. military intends to use the planned base in Henoko as a stronghold for dispatching its troops all around the world, and said that this move should never be tolerated.
Independent member of the House of Representatives Nakasato Toshinobu also joined the action. Nakasato, former advisor to the Liberal Democratic Party Okinawa Prefectural Federation, left the party in revolt against the LDP headquarters pushing forward with the base construction plan. In the general election last month, he was elected from a single-seat constituency in Okinawa, beating his LDP rival. He called on the sit-in participants to keep working to bring down the war-promoting Abe government.
Past related articles
> Gov’t transports base construction materials under cover of darkness [January 12 & 13, 2015]
> Okinawa Governor-elect goes to Henoko to encourage sit-in protesters [November 20, 2014]
> Demolition work of old buildings in Henoko begins for new US base construction [July 2, 2014]
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