22 May 2017

News Story: Thousands of youngsters rally against Abe's constitution amending attempts in Japan

TOKYO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Some 1,800 people, mainly youngsters, gathered here on Sunday to protest against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's attempts to amend the pacifist Constitution.

The protestors, many of them college students, gathered in the Shinjuku Central Park in Tokyo, holding banners and shouting slogans such as "what should be changed is not the Constitution but the politics," and "protect peace, oppose war".

Izumi Kurotsu, one of the organizers of the rally, said that Article 9 of the pacifist Constitution, by which Japan renounces its right to wage war, shows Japan's commitment to peace to its people as well as to its neighboring countries.

"The Abe administration has set a time frame for changing the pacifist Constitution. We are gathering here today to call on the people to recognize that what should be changed is not the Constitution but Japan's politics," she said.

Read the full story at Xinhua