A rally held opposing SDF dispatch bill

About 3,000 people attended an emergency rally at Hibiya Amphitheater in Tokyo on July 2 calling for the bill to dispatch Japan's Self-Defense Forces to Iraq to be scrapped.

On behalf of the organizers, Kumagai Kanemichi, president of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), pointed out that what Iraq needs now is restoration of law and order and humanitarian assistance such as supplying food and opening schools.

Ogata Yasuo, Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors, said that Iraq is still in a state of war and that sending the SDF to Iraq will only help increase the danger and tensions in the region.

Otsu Ken'ichi of Religious Network spoke on behalf of various circles and demanded that the contingency legislation not be invoked and that the Iraq bill be scrapped, saying, "What we hope is to place greater importance on each and everyone's life."

On the same day in Osaka, 1,200 people from labor unions and citizens' groups held a rally at Ogimachi Park in opposition to the SDF dispatch bill. (end)