DHAKA: Thousands of demonstrators formed a human chain around Japan’s Parliament in Tokyo on Sunday, protesting the planned construction of a new United States airbase on the southern island of Okinawa.

The protesters, who organizers said numbered about 15,000, surrounded the parliament building holding banners reading ‘No to Henoko’, in the latest rally against the controversial base.

Henoko is a small coastal area on Okinawa where Tokyo and Washington plan to relocate the existing Futenma military facility, currently situated in built-up Ginowan.

Okinawa is home to more than half of the 47,000 US service personnel stationed in Japan as part of a defense alliance, a proportion many islanders say is too high.

‘We must stop this construction,’ said protester Akemi Kitajima, 66, reports The Straits Times.

‘The government is trying to force the plan no matter how strongly Okinawa says 'no' to it.’

BDST: 2103 HRS, MAY 24, 2015
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