Takae Citizens' Sit-in Protest
Following the 1999 crash of a United States military helicopter near Takae district's elementary school, local villagers started a sit-in campaign to block further construction of helipads in the area. When construction officials arrived to start building the new pads in 2007, they were met by protesters who surrounded the trucks and staged a sit-in. After a long stand-off, the prefectural police arrived and they ordered the construction to be halted since it was placing the lives of the protesters in danger.
Since 2007, approximately 10,000 people have participated in the sit-ins at three sites in the area. In 2008, the Japanese government attempted to serve injunctions against 15 participants. While, 13 of the injunctions were thrown out of court, the remaining two have yet to be decided.
Read more about this topic: Camp Gonsalves
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