Mass protest held outside Prime Minister’s office: “Don’t bury Okinawa”

Mass protest held outside Prime Minister’s office: “Don’t bury Okinawa”

Demonstrators calling out, “Don’t bury Okinawa!” in front of the Prime Minister’s office in Tokyo on the night of March 1


March 2, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

(Tokyo) On March 1, a demonstration named “#0301 Don’t Bury Okinawa: Tokyo Mass Protest” was held in front of the Prime Minister’s office in Tokyo.

The demonstration was held in the wake of a prefectural referendum in Okinawa, for which voting commenced on February 24, on the issue of land reclamation as part of the construction of a new military base in Henoko, Nago.

The referendum showed more than 70% of voters opposing the reclamation. Answering the call of volunteers interested in the cause, enough people gathered to fill the whole sidewalk and raised their voices, saying, “Don’t bury Okinawa!” and calling for a stop to the new base construction.

Protests opposing the resumption of nuclear power plant operations and other issues are held in front of the Prime Minister’s office every Friday, but on this day the police beefed up their usual security and tensions were high as they faced off with the protestors.

Jinshiro Motoyama, representative of the “Henoko” Okinawa Prefectural Referendum Committee, who attended the protest, urged more people to take action, saying, “I came thinking there would be more people here.

The Prime Minister and Chief Cabinet Secretary will never listen to us at this rate!” He expressed his hope to expand the movement to block the base construction, telling the attendees, “You should talk to people around you with different perspectives [about the base issue] starting by asking what they think about the referendum.”

The chanting protesters responded to Motoyama’s urging, saying, “That the harassment [of Okinawa] continues is the fault of all the people who stand by watching and pretending nothing is happening.

It’s our responsibility to push away the feet that are trampling on Okinawa.”

(English translation by T&CT and Sandi Aritza)

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