Japan Press Weekly

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2015 February 11 - 17 [US FORCES]

US military in Okinawa shows open hostility towards anti-base protesters

The U.S. Forces in Okinawa are showing open hostility towards people protesting against a plan to construct a new U.S. base in Henoko in Okinawa.

On February 9 at around 11:30 am, citizens were staging a protest against the construction outside the No.3 gate of the U.S. Marine Corps Camp Schwab. The protesters saw a marine draw his gun out when coming out of a building on the base site. He walked past them on the other side of the fence and drove away in a truck.

Yamashiro Hiroji, co-head of a residents’ group opposing the U.S. base relocation within Okinawa, said that this was the first time that he saw such an aggressive reaction from a soldier and that some soldiers seem to resent the protest actions.

Capt. Caleb D. Eames, deputy public affairs officer for the Marine Corps Installations Pacific, recently said that the anti-base activists are trying to fake injuries and it is “laughable”, Akahata on February 12 reported. According to Akahata, this remark came out in his email to the Japan Times on February 9 regarding media reports that the government’s strong measures against the protesters are causing injuries.

Ashitomi Hiroshi of the anti-U.S. heliport council criticizingly said that the U.S. officer’s remark proved that they are looking at Okinawans from the viewpoint of occupation forces. He went on to say that if the U.S. military treats people’s protest movements in such a way, it will only further fuel Okinawans’ anger.


Past related articles
> Gov’t should stop US base construction in Henoko [February 3, 2015]
> JCP Akamine: PM should accept Okinawans’ anti-base verdict [January 31, 2015]