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Japanese stage massive rally outside US base in Okinawa

Friday, 17 June 2016 10:29 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 17 June 2016 10:29 AM ]

Policemen (in dark blue) try to remove people protesting against the presence of US bases on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa prefecture on June 17, 2016. ©AFP

Scuffles have broken out between Japanese police and anti-US protesters who were out on the streets to voice their anger at the American military presence on the Okinawa island.

Large crowds of demonstrators gathered outside the US marine base, called Camp Schwab, in Okinawa Prefecture on Friday to denounce US troops in their country.

They also vented their anger at a plan by the government to relocate a contentious US military base in Okinawa.

The angry protesters blocked the main gate of the base and chanted slogans against the relocation plan, holding banners that read, “Marines Out.”

A series of violent clashes erupted as police attempted to forcefully break up the gathering.

A major sit-in protest with a similar objective has also been organized on Okinawa Island.

Okinawa has become known as the site of enduring tensions with the US forces deployed there.

Protests have become increasingly intense after a US base employee was recently arrested following the suspected rape and murder of a local woman.

Police found DNA matching the dead woman’s in a car belonging to Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a former US marine who worked at the US Air Force’s Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

Policemen (in blue) try to remove people protesting against the presence of US bases on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa on June 17, 2016. ©AFP

The man is suspected of having murdered the victim and disposed of her body.

More than half of the 47,000 US military forces in Japan are stationed in Okinawa.

The United States and Japan agreed in 1996 to relocate the US Marines’ Futenma base, currently in a heavily populated area, to a new site in Okinawa.

However, many residents whose prefecture was the only part of Japan to suffer a bloody land battle during World War II want the base and the US military off their land altogether.

US army lifts drinking ban on Okinawa troops

In a separate development, the US Navy said in a statement on Friday that all sailors in Japan — including on Okinawa — can now drink in the base and in their off-base homes.

The US banned its troops in Okinawa from drinking alcohol following a drunk-driving accident that injured two people on June 6.

Meanwhile, Rear Admiral Matthew Carter, who commands the US Navy in Japan, stressed that out-of-control drinking threatened to harm ties.

“We must all be on the lookout to step in before alcohol-related incidents jeopardize our relationship with Japan,” he said.

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