120,000 Japanese rally against military bills

TOKYO: Some 120,000 people took to the streets around the Japanese parliament in the heart of Tokyo Sunday to oppose controversial security bills which critics say would upend the country's pacifist constitution.
At issue are proposals by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that would allow Japanese armed forces to engage in overseas combat if that was required to protect Japanese interests.
Such a change would be a massive shift for a country with a constitution clearly banning overseas military ventures.
"Protect the constitution from Shinzo Abe! Protect children from Shinzo Abe!" chanted Aki Okuda, a leader of a student protest group, before a large crowd.
"Abe, quit immediately!" shouted Okuda, a founding member of the group Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy (SEALDs).
Despite occasional light rain, participants from all walks of life filled the roads to the parliament building, chanting slogans and raising placards.
Multiple rallies against the bills have been staged across Japan since the powerful lower house pushed through the legislation last month.
If approved by the upper chamber, it would be the first time Japanese forces could operate overseas since the end of World War II.
Japanese people are often said to be apathetic about politics, but "more people have decided to raise a voice in protest because they feel their voices are ignored" by the premier's government, said Norio Minami, a member of lawyers' group in Tokyo that joined the rally.
The bills are currently being debated in the upper chamber of the parliament and expected to be passed in September.
In July 2014, Abe's cabinet green-lighted the expansion of the military's role overseas by reinterpreting the pacifist constitution. Article 9 of the charter prohibits the use of force to settle international disputes."
This is a serious challenge to Article 9," Isao Kimura, a member of civic group to protect the clause, said.
"You know, Mr Abe is the very person who has to comply with the constitution."
A survey conducted by Tokyo Shimbun in July showed 90% of constitutional scholars polled said Abe's proposals violate Japan's pacifist constitution.
On Wednesday, 300 constitutional scholars and former supreme court justices staged a protest rally to urge the premier to scrap the bills. — dpa