Okinawa demos rage on amid US base relocation

Japanese police have scuffled for the second day in a row with protesters demonstrating against the relocation of a US military base in the southern island of Okinawa.

The central government plans to move the base away from Futenma to a less populated part of the island called Henoko, but Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga has led a campaign to get the base off the island completely.

The protests are currently focused on a landfill project which the government says is required for relocation.

The protests in Okinawa made headlines on Monday as construction workers with heavy machinery prepared large concrete blocks to be dropped into the sea.

On Tuesday, authorities began dropping about 220 concrete blocks to create an underwater filter designed to prevent ocean contamination during construction of the base.

Locals and environmentalists are furious, saying the new airbase will destroy reefs and harm marine life in a relatively untouched part of Okinawa, and add to noise and crime. 

Footage posted on social media on Tuesday showed protesters, many of them elderly, being removed by police officers from what appears to be a sit-in protest.

In another video, a man in a wheelchair is seen being pulled away from the protest by police, as fellow protesters denounce the authorities for manhandling a disabled person.

SS