Vol.64/No.29 July 24, 2000
U.S. bases in Okinawa draw protests
Residents of Okinawa rally outside the Japanese island's Futenma U.S. air base, where a U.S. marine accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl is stationed. The soldier was arrested July 3. Two other U.S. marines were arrested the previous week after a scuffle with a taxi driver.
Seeking to defuse protests, U.S. general Earl Hailston, U.S. Marine commander in Okinawa, issued a formal apology for the incidents, which occurred two weeks before a Group of Eight summit meeting was to take place in Okinawa. More demonstrations against U.S. military bases there are expected at that time. In 1995, three U.S. soldiers were convicted of raping a 12-year-old Okinawan girl, a case that sparked huge protests. Some 47,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan, nearly two-thirds of them in Okinawa.
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