Japanese people in Okinawa protest at US air base

[longriver]

Thousands of people Sunday formed a human chain surrounding a US Marines air base on Okinawa in a protest to demand the closure of the unpopular military facility on the southern Japanese island.
Organisers said 17,000 people turned out in pouring rain to form the 13-kilometre (eight-mile) chain as emotions ran high against the heavy US military presence on the island.
Anti-base sentiment intensified after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama backtracked on a key election pledge last year to scrap a pact with Washington and promised to move the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma off Okinawa.

 

[senojekips]

Yes, we see it all the time.

Locals around nearly every airfield in Australia whine and complain about noise and other problems. You will notice that this demonstration was allowed to proceed without the Police and Military intervention, or people being shot and thrown into prison. That is the benefit of living in countries that allow freedom of speech, the people are allowed to say as they feel even at times when it is not necessarily in the best interests of the country.

It's only to be expected. The same people would be very pleased to have it right on their doorstep if they were at risk of foreign attack. You must realise, the armed services are always disliked and distrusted in times of peace by a certain noisy minority.

 

[A Can of Man]

Yeah.
Like I said, there should be a military off season. A season where everyone in the military goes away for about a month and won't be recalled no matter what until the period is over.

 

[Yossarian]

My brother was stationed in Japan and saw one of these "protests" Said one morning while coming into work, about 100 friendly protesters where mingling with signs and such outside the main entrance. But when he saw the same thing on the news, the footage was all the way zoomed with fast changing scenes to make it seem like the streets were packed with anti occupation angry protesters.