Urgent protest rally held against MSDF ships' departure for war

In Sasebo City in Nagasaki Prefecture in western Japan on November 9, peace activists held an emergency rally in protest against the dispatching of the Sasebo-based Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels to the Indian Ocean to take part in the U.S.-led retaliatory war against Afghanistan.

The rally was called by Sasebo's Peace Committee and Council against A & H Bombs (Gensuikyo).

Nakata Shinsuke, Nagasaki Prefectural Assembly member (Japanese Communist Party), called on participants to organize citizens' protests against such an unconstitutional step.

Raising their fists at the three MSDF ships leaving the Sasebo Naval Port, participants shouted in unison: "Don't go to the retaliatory war! Stop dispatching SDF units abroad!" (end)