Over 20,000 residents of Japan city demand withdrawal of US base.

8/11 Tass 57

TOKYO, November 8 (Itar-Tass) - More than 20,000 residents in the city
of Ginowan on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa took to the streets
on Sunday to demand that authorities should prod Washington to close down
immediately the U.S. base of Futemma and to withdraw it from the city.


Mayor Yoichi Iha said in his speech before citizens that "island
residents rather than the Pentagon should decide the fate of this U.S.
military facility".
In 2006, Tokyo and Washington agreed, under the project of
reorganising the American military presence in Japan, to shift the Futemma
base from the city of Ginowan to another less populated area of the
island. However, the new government, led by Premier Yukio Hatoyama, formed
in mid-September, regards it necessary to speed up the plan, taking into
account the wishes of local population.
Washington negatively responded to this Tokyo's statement and demanded
that it should observe all earlier understandings. For instance U.S.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates called on the Japanese cabinet to give a
reply on this point before the visit of Barack Obama to Japan due next
week.
Okinawa incorporates 75 percent of the area of all American facilities
in Japan, including the Kadena air base, the largest outside the United
States. The total strength of the contingent of U.S. armed forces in the
Japanese archipelago totals 47,000 rank-and-file and officers.
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