NAGO, Okinawa Pref.-- In a unified expression of opposition to the U.S. military's presence in Okinawa, some 27,000 citizens from Okinawa and the mainland formed a human chain around the U.S. Kadena Air Base on Thursday.
Under a blazing summer sun, individual local residents and members of an estimated 100 citizens' groups and labor unions joined hands for five minutes on three occasions between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., completely surrounding the 17-km perimeter of the air base.
Although the human chain was not completed on the first and second attempts, the number of demonstrators topped the targeted 25,000 by 2,100 on the third attempt and succeeded in forming an unbroken chain, organizers said.