JAPAN-SECURITY/ABE-STUDENT PROTEST Thousands protest against Japan's security bill approval

Record ID: 147090

  • Title: JAPAN-SECURITY/ABE-STUDENT PROTEST Thousands protest against Japan's security bill approval
  • Date: 15th July 2015
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (JULY 15, 2015) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** STUDENT PROTESTERS CHANTING (Japanese): "WE ARE AGAINST WAR" VARIOUS OF STUDENT PROTESTERS CHANTING (Japanese): "WE ARE AGAINST THE FORCEFUL PASSING OF THE SECURITY BILL" PROTESTER CARRYING BANNER READING (English): "WAR IS OVER IF YOU WANT IT" (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) WOMEN'S RIGHT
  • Embargoed: 30th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAB3BUM3S5NTTYGAVWHLM1OVTQM
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Japanese parliament in downtown Tokyo on Wednesday (July 15), as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and ruling coalition lawmakers approved a bill for a dramatic change in Japan's defence policy that could allow troops to fight abroad for the first time since World War Two.
    The protest, which began after sundown across the street from the front gate of the parliament, gradually grew in numbers, starting with around 20,000, then swelling to 60,000 people, according to organisers.
    Although the protest attracted a mixed demographic, it was led by mostly young men and women from a university organisation.
    As the protest grew in numbers, some spilled over into the road where cars zipped by, prompting the police to make a human chain to prevent people from walking roaming further into the streets.
    Some, however, had scuffles with the police.
    "I think it goes against democracy by forcefully approving the security bill when professors who specialise in the constitution say it violates it. I think we must stop this," a women's rights activist told Reuters, referring to a university professor Yasuo Hasebe who set off a firestorm last month when he was invited to speak to a parliamentary panel by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and said that a legislation to let Japan exercise the right of collective self-defence, or fighting to defend a friendly country under attack, was unconstitutional.
    "What Abe's government is doing right now is definitely wrong, so I participated with the thought to stop what Abe is doing," 17-year-old high school student Benio Miyai told Reuters during the protest.
    Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says a bolder security stance, welcomed by key ally Washington, is vital to meet new challenges, such as those from China.
    Opponents say the revisions violate the pacifist constitution and could entangle Japan in U.S.-led conflicts around the globe.
    The bills are expected to be approved this week by the full lower house, where the ruling bloc has an overwhelming majority, before going to the upper chamber.
    Abe now faces his biggest challenge since taking office in December 2012, vowing to revive Japan's stale economy and bolster its defence.
    His ratings have slipped over voter concerns about the plan to drop a ban on collective self-defence, or fighting to defend a friendly country under attack, besides doubts on other signature policies.
    Abe's disapproval rate rose five points to 42 percent in an Asahi newspaper poll released on Monday, versus a support rate of 39 percent. Fifty-six percent opposed the bills.
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