Okinawa residents held a protest demonstration at sea Monday against scheduled land reclamation work for the relocation of a U. S. military base within Japa
NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. – Okinawa residents held a protest demonstration at sea Monday against scheduled land reclamation work for the relocation of a U. S. military base within Japan’s southernmost island prefecture.
While the full-fledged landfill work for moving U. S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is expected to start as early as Aug. 17, many residents are against the plan as they want the base moved out of the prefecture.
Some 70 canoes and several small vessels were used by the protesters as they faced off patrol vessels of the Japan Coast Guard off the Henoko coastal area of Nago, where the base is scheduled to be relocated from densely populated Ginowan.
More than half of the canoes entered the off-limits construction work area and were subsequently evicted. Protesters held placards carrying messages such as “Don’t construct a base,” and “Don’t dump gravel.”
“I don’t want them to reclaim this beautiful sea,” said a man in his 40s from the village of Ogimi who was among the protesters.
A protest gathering of hundreds of people was also scheduled to take place on land in the afternoon, but it was canceled due to poor weather.
