Thousands protest against move to let Japanese troops fight abroad

Thousands of protesters rallied in Tokyo against Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s security policy on Monday as the government aims to enact legislation this month that would allow Japanese troops to fight abroad for the first time since the second World War.

Participants including Nobel literature laureate Kenzaburo Oe and leaders of main opposition parties gathered in front of the parliament building, waving glow-sticks and holding up placards reading “no war” and “scrap war legislation”.

Protesters broke through metal barriers after scuffling with police and streamed on to the street in front of parliament.

Organisers said the protesters numbered 45,000. A police spokesman said the metropolitan police department did not give estimates for the size of the protest.

A similar rally on August 30th attracted about 120,000 people, according to the organizers.

Mr Abe’s ruling bloc wants to pass the security Bills before parliament ends its session on September 27th. A vote in the upper house is expected this week.

“Abe’s government is currently not listening to the voices of the people, and many things are being pulled back to the past in a bad way. So I can’t keep quiet,” said protester Yasuko Yanagihara (69).

Legislation

A poll carried out at the weekend and published on Monday by the

Asahi Shimbun

daily showed 54 per cent of respondents opposed the legislation against 29 per cent who backed it, and 68 per cent saw no need to enact the Bills during the current session.

Three-quarters of the respondents said the debate had been insufficient, in line with other surveys.

A separate survey by public broadcaster NHK also showed more than twice as many people polled were against the passage of the legislation in the current parliament session as those who support it.

Mr Abe’s ruling bloc has a majority in the upper house, but opposition parties have said they will use all possible means to prevent a vote, including delaying procedures by submitting time-consuming non-confidence and censure motions.

Support for Mr Abe’s government has fallen to 36 per cent, the Asahi survey showed, the lowest rate since he took office in December 2012 and down from 38 per cent in last month’s poll.

The NHK survey showed, however, support for the government rose by six percentage points from the previous poll in August to 43 per cent.

Mr Abe last week won a rare second consecutive term as a ruling party chief, and hence premier, pledging to retain focus on reviving the world’s third-largest economy and deepen debate on revising its pacifist constitution.

– (Reuters)