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Feature: Massive protests against Abe mark Japan's Constitution Memorial Day

Xinhua, May 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

Some 50,000 people rallied in Tokyo on Tuesday on the occasion of the 69th Constitution Memorial Day of Japan to protest against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's unwanted attempts to amend the nation's pacifist Constitution.

The protesters were also demanding the nullification of the recently-enforced unconstitutional security laws.

"Safeguard the Constitution! No more wars!" "Scrap the war laws!" "Abe out!" Protesters shouted at the city's Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park Tuesday, holding banners and flags displaying similar sentiments.

The protesters included students, legal experts, representatives from opposition parties, as well as common citizens.

The Japanese prime minister has reiterated since he returned to power in 2012 that amending the Constitution, in particular its war-renouncing Article 9, is a main political goal for him.

Steps towards this were first made by Abe's ruling coalition forcibly enacting the controversial security laws through its dominance in parliament and in doing so enabling the country's troops to deploy overseas and engage in offensive military action, despite a clause in Article 9 of the Constitution prohibiting Japan from fighting overseas.

"The security laws, though having come into effect, are unconstitutional in essence. Prime Minister Abe is trying to revise the Constitution so as to permit Japan's forces the right to exercise collective self-defense with no restrictions. This is unacceptable," said Katsya Okada, leader of the largest opposition Democratic Party.

"The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's draft constitutional amendments violate the fundamental human rights of the citizens, as they try to change the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution," said Kazuo Shii, chairman of the Japanese Communist Party.

For Yoko Kojiya, a regular citizen opposed to the possible changes, the security laws increase the danger of her kids having to go to war in the future. "The Abe administration is in the meantime trying to affect the younger generations by changing the standards for textbooks. We should prevent the government from sending our children to wars," she said.

"There are so many people attending this gathering today, opposing what the Abe administration is doing. It shows that the Japanese people are aware of the danger they are currently in," said Wada, another protester.

The gathering lasted for two hours. After that, the protesters marched in the city's downtown area, calling for the government to respect public opinion and demonstrating their determination to safeguard the pacifist Constitution.

Massive protests were also held in other cities around the nation, including in Kyoto, Osaka, and Sapporo in Hokkaido.

A recent poll showed that 56.5 percent of the Japanese people are against amending the Constitution, far more than the 33.4 percent supporting the amendment.

According to Japanese law, amending the Constitution requires two thirds approval in both chambers of the bicameral national Diet as well as approval from majority of the people in a national referendum. Endit