Japan Press Weekly

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2016 September 28 - October 4 [POLITICS]

Large number of gov’t workers mobilized to suppress Henoko base protesters

The Cabinet Office’s Okinawa General Bureau assigned 300 or eight out of ten workers in its department in charge of national road-related issues to participate in countermeasures against local protesters opposing the construction of a new U.S. base in Nago’s Henoko district, Akahata reported on October 1.

The Abe government in February in response to a request from the U.S. military in Japan ordered the Okinawa General Bureau to strengthen measures to ensure “safety” at the gate of U.S. Camp Schwab, the planned base construction site. After that, the bureau started to station its officials 24/7 at the gate using a three-shift system. In addition, the central government dispatched 100 riot police officers from across the country to Henoko to forcibly crack down on the protesters.

The Okinawa General Bureau is a regional office of the Cabinet Office for the promotion of Okinawa development through, for example, infrastructure construction. However, many bureau workers were ordered to help the riot police suppress the local protestors.

In response to an Akahata inquiry, an Okinawa General Bureau official said that as of September 27, 81% or 299 of 370 workers who belong to the bureau department in charge of national road-related affairs in Okinawa have been tasked to cope with the Henoko protest. The official said that they know of no precedent for such a large scale assignment, thus acknowledging its abnormality.

A Cabinet Office official explained to Akahata that the large-scale mobilization of Okinawa bureau workers is necessary because Henoko protesters are setting up tents in violation of the Road Act and that this needs to be addressed.

Nakazato Takayuki, the chair of a trade union for Okinawa General Bureau workers, criticized the Abe government for ordering national public workers to suppress citizens’ peaceful protest. He pointed out that although the around-the-clock stationing of personnel in Henoko was lifted, many bureau officials have to carry out anti-protest duties even on weekends in addition to their normal duties, which means excessively heavy workloads for them. Nakazato demanded that the mobilized workers be returned to their normal duties.

In the November 2014 Okinawa gubernatorial election, candidate Onaga Takeshi, who pledged to oppose the Henoko base construction project, beat the pro-base former governor by a large margin. Sensing a crisis, the Abe government in January 2015 forcibly brought in construction materials to the Henoko site. In protest against this move, the sit-in protest against the construction project started and is still ongoing at the planned construction site.

Past related article:
> Okinawa appeals Henoko case to Supreme Court [September 24, 2016]