Tens of thousands of people have protested the presence of U.S. military bases on the southwestern Japanese island of Okinawa, after an American contractor and former Marine was accused of raping and killing a local woman.
The rally on Sunday called for a review of the U.S.-Japanese security agreement, which burdens Okinawa with hosting the bulk of U.S. troops in Japan.
The killing set off outrage on Okinawa, where tensions periodically run high over crime.
Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga – who has spearheaded opposition to relocation of the US air station – joined Sunday’s rally and apologized for “failing to protect” the young woman who died.
Also contentious is a plan to relocate a Marine Corps air station to a less-populated part of Okinawa, which developed after public anger erupted in 1995 over a rape of a girl by three American servicemen. Protesters want the Marines to leave and the overall military scaled back.
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