Japan Press Weekly

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2007 March 21 - 27 [POLITICS]

Withdraw SDF from Iraq, scrap bill to establish procedures for constitutional revision: JCP Ichida at anti-Iraq War rally

On March 20, marking the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, various actions took place throughout Japan calling for the withdrawal of the Self-Defense Forces from Iraq and in opposition to a constitutional revision.

In Tokyo, labor unions and civic groups staged a sit-in protest in the morning against the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties’ move to enact a bill to establish procedures for constitutional revision in the current session of the Diet.

In the evening, about 2,500 people took part in a rally at the Hibiya amphitheater. Speaking on behalf of the organizers, Ban’nai Mitsuo, the president of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), stated that the revision of Article 9 is sought to enable Japan to use force in cooperation with the U.S. forces in U.S. wars like the one in Iraq. He called on the participants to mark that rally as a springboard for further strengthening actions in opposition to constitutional revision.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi delivered a report about the situations in the Diet and stated, “The rapid increase in the movement in opposition to constitutional revision is upsetting the pro-constitutional revision forces. Let us quickly reveal the dangerous agenda hidden in the bill to the public and have it scrapped.”

After the rally, the participants marched in demonstration to the Diet Building.