The Yokohama District Court's Kawasaki branch handed down a provisional injunction Thursday banning an anti-Korean group from holding demonstrations within 500 meters from the office of a citizens' group fighting hate speech.

The court prohibited a Kawasaki man who had repeatedly organized rallies ostracizing Korean residents from holding racist events or letting a third party join such events.

Seikyusha, a Kawasaki-based social welfare service corporation that operates the citizens' organization fighting ethnic discrimination in the southern part of the city — home to a large ethnic Korean population, asked for the injunction on May 27, as the man was planning to hold an anti-Korean protest this coming Sunday.