Japan: Thousands protest US military presence in Okinawa

(Baonghean.vn) - Thousands of people on Okinawa Island, Japan on June 19 protested on the largest scale in the past 20 years against the US military base since the arrest of an American soldier accused of murdering a local woman.

Thousands of people held protests against the presence of US troops in Okinawa on June 19. Photo: Reuters.

The protest marked a setback in US-Japan relations and affected plans to relocate the US Marine Corps' Futenma airfield to a less populated area in Okinawa in the near future.

Organizers said 65,000 people joined the rally at a park in central Naha.

In 1996, the US and Japan agreed to close the Futenma area after a Japanese schoolgirl was raped by three US soldiers, leading to mass protests against the US military presence in Okinawa.

Plans to relocate the US Futenma air base have been delayed since then due to protests from residents living near the area where the airport is expected to be relocated due to concerns about noise, pollution and crime.

Anti-relocation members won a majority of seats in the Okinawa People's Assembly, backing Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga's plan to relocate the US military base to another area.

There are currently about 50,000 US citizens, including 30,000 soldiers and civilians, working at US bases in Okinawa.

With the US and Japan trying to check China's growing influence in the South China Sea, the Okinawa island chain has become a strategically important location for military planners.

Thanh Hien

(According to Reuters)