Yomitan sets up executive committee for rally against suspected slaying of Okinawan woman by ex-US marine

Yomitan sets up executive committee for rally against suspected slaying of Okinawan woman by ex-US marine

After setting up the executive committee, Yomitan Mayor Denjitsu Ishimine (center) spoke to the press at Yomitan Village Office on June 9.


June 10, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

Following the recent arrest of a U.S. military employee on suspicion of murdering a woman, a protest rally will be held at Onoyama Athletic Park in Naha on June 19. More than 20 organizations in Yomitan Village set up an executive committee, in which all the villagers will unite to work towards the success of the rally. It is expected that other municipalities in Okinawa will utilize the Shimagurumi-kaigi to work hard before the rally.

A chairperson of the executive committee is Yomitan Mayor Denjitsu Ishimine. The chairman of Yomitan Village Assembly Atushi Iha, the head of the Yomitan Senior Association Sadahiro China, the head of Yomitan Women’s Association Mieko Ikehara, and Okinawa Prefectural Assembly member Satoru Nakasone took up posts as vice chairpeople.

Aiming to have 1,300 people from the village take part in the rally, the committee will encourage the villagers to participate. As well as banners, the committee members will announce a call for participation over the community wireless system and FM Yomitan. They plan to operate 10 motorcoaches on the day of the rally.

Yomitan Mayor Ishimine said, “Over 70 years after the war, 44 years after Okinawa’s return to Japanese sovereignty, there have been continuous crimes and incidents involving U.S. military personnel while Okinawa has been bearing an excessive burden of the U.S. military bases in Japan. I am angry deep in my heart.”

Yomitan has set up such executive committees four times since the massive protest rally that followed the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old by U.S. servicemen. It is the first time a committee has been set up in four years, the last being for the rally against the deployment of the U.S. Marine Corps’Opsrey to Okinawa in 2012.

(English translation by T&CT)

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