01 September 2015

News Story: 120,000 protesters surround Japan's Diet over security bills

Some 120,000 people rallied and surrounded Japan's parliament building in Tokyo on Sunday, demanding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rescind his government's controversial security bills.

Political heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa, who also serves as a co-head of the People's Life Party, and other opposition leaders also took part in the largest rally recently seen in Tokyo. According to organizers, similar demonstrations against the bills were also held across the country at the weekend.

Katsuya Okada, leader of the largest opposition Democratic Party, said the security-related bills violated the country's pacifist postwar constitution, adding that the Japanese people were angered by the bills that they feel has placed the nation in crisis.

Communist Party chief Kazuo Shii said the Abe administration avoided directly answering questions over the bills during deliberations in the Diet, vowing to stop the bills' endorsement in the upper house.

Read the full story at Want China Times