A prominent Okinawan activist told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday that the Japanese government has committed "clear human rights violations" against those opposed to the relocation plan for U.S. Marine Corps Air Base Futenma.
"Civilians are protesting the militarization every day. The government of Japan dispatched large police forces in Okinawa to oppress and violently remove those civilians," Hiroji Yamashiro, head of the Okinawa Peace Action Center, said in a speech to the council in Geneva.
Yamashiro, who was detained for five months starting last October for what he and his supporters call minor offenses during base protest activities on Okinawa, said he was forced "to confess and give up the protest activity."