Midnight Confrontation Points to Turbulent Time Ahead in Okinawa

Photo by H. Yoshikawa

An intense confrontation broke out between the Okinawa prefectural police force and protesters who tried to block construction vehicles from entering U.S. Marine Base Camp Schwab in Henoko, Okinawa during the late night of January 10 and the early morning of January 11 (see The Ryukyu Shimpo). Camp Schwab and its adjoining water area is the proposed site for the construction of a new US military air base.

As construction trucks approached the gates of Camp Schwab, protesters stood up in front of the trucks and some laid their bodies on the ground.  After scuffling and screaming, the police force pushed and pulled the protesters away and let the trucks enter the military base. 

About 50 police and 40 protesters, most of whom were called out on emergency, were tangled in the confrontation. More than 15 trucks made it to the military base. One protester was injured and was taken to a local hospital. Another protester was arrested and charged for assault on a private security guard. The arrest was the first arrest made since the sit in protest at Camp Schwab started in July 2014 (see The Japan Update). 

Protester collapses in front of a truck
Photo by H. Yoshikawa

The midnight confrontation followed a more or less peaceful and successful protest demonstration at Camp Schwab during the daytime of January 10.  Despite it was Saturday, about 40 protesters carried out sit-in protest on what is referred as the “murder steel boards” placed in the (former) First Gate area of Camp Schwab (see below for explanation for "murder steel boards). The protesters were successful in stopping the vehicles from entering the US base.

Hiroji Yamashiro, a protest leader, called the Okinawa Defense Bureau’s midnight construction work “a disparate reaction to the protesters’ successes during the daytime.”

Okinawa’s Decisive Voice and Abe Administration

The midnight confrontation took place as a series of key Okinawan elections in 2014 resulted in decisive victories against the construction of the new air base in Henoko an Oura Bay, one of the most bio-diversity rich areas in Okinawa. The candidates with an anti-base construction stance overwhelmingly defeated the candidates backed up by the Abe administration in the Nago Mayor’s election in January, Nago Assembly election in September, Okinawa Governor’s election in November, and the National Diet members elections in December (see Gavan McCormack's latest article).

However, the Abe administration has not shown any sign of considering Okinawa’s voice. Instead, it insists that his government proceed with the construction plan. It pressured (threatened) Governor Onaga to accept the construction plan with budget cut proposals for Okinawa prefecture for fiscal year 2015 (see The Asahi Shimbun), and it did reduce for the first time in five years the central government's funding for Okinawa by 4.6 percent (see Bloomberg). And so far, key members of the Abe administration have even refused to meet Governor Onaga (see Mainichi).   

The political disjunction between Okinawa and the Japanese government and the Abe adminstration’s blunt contempt for Okinawa’s elected leader have intensified the protest at Camp Schwab. Now, on weekdays, some 100 people engage in daytime sit in protest. Not only has the protest delayed the preparatory phase of for the air base construction, but also it has disrupted the construction or maintenance of other facilities on the base. In fact, according to Koichi Nishi, an Okinawa Defense Bureau official, the trucks which entered the military base during the midnight confrontation were carrying construction materials for the construction of parking facilites, not for the air base construction (see The Okinawa Times).

Sit in protest on "Murder Steel Boards"
These steel boards with a zigzag surface were first placed in the first gate area of Camp Schwab by the Okinawa Defense Bureau in July, 2014. According to the Bureau, the steel boards were placed to help remove mud from the wheel of trucks entering Camp Schwab. Protesters regard the steel board as an "inhumane measure" to get rid of protesters (See The Ryukyu Shimpo editorial). Interestingly, protesters now use these steel boards to their advantage. According to one protester, police force is reluctant to remove protesters on the steel boards because of "the possible danger involved in removing protesters from the steel boards."                        Photo by H. Okino

Escalating Confrontation

Meanwhile, the midnight confrontation points to the unsettling possibilities that the situation at Camp Schwab could get worse and be out of control. Scuffling, screaming, injury, arrest, etc, signs indicating this direction, were all there. (At the time of this writing, we had another intense confrontation between 120 Okinawa prefectural police force and 100 protesters at Camp Schwab in the early morning of Jan. 15. See The Okinawa Times). However, there were also other elements that need attention.   

Okinawa Prefectural Police and Protesters
Photo by H. Yoshikawa

On the scene of the midnight confrontation, there were several young right-wing Japanese activists trying to provoke protesters and US service personnel trying to enter the gate on foot or by car (probably coming back from their Saturday night out). The protesters ignored the activists and they did not disrupt the return of these US military personnel to the base. However, any accident or incident involving such third parties could have lead to a very complicated situation. A scenario that both the Japanese and US governments want to avoid.

Moreover, although, as with the midnight confrontation, the likelihood of confrontation taking place appears to be limited between the Okinawa prefectural police force and protesters, the very structure of confrontation, where Okinawan police are pitted against Okinawan protesters by the Japanese government, has potential for a social explosion.       

The protest at Camp Schwab is now on 24 hour alert and it is attracting more protesters from many parts of Okinawa and mainland Japan.



H.Y.