(In front of the Gate)
In a drizzle, approximately 30 people resumed the sit-in from 8:30am. Past 9:00am, all were removed easily by the riot police, and dump trucks and mixer trucks went into the base one after another.
Every day, several hundreds of large trucks, each with more than 10 ton load, travel on the national highway and badly damage the highway on which many traces of cracks and repairs are sighted. Where can you find a public work that requires several hundreds dump trucks line up at the designated times every day to make deliveries? Today, 198 truckloads deliveries were made.
(On the sea in Oura Bay)
No protest rally was made because of Wednesday Intensive Action for which our efforts were focused at the Pier in Awa.
(In front of Ryukyu Cement Pier in Awa)
We rallied in 4 groups; at the truck entrance to the Pier, at the exit of the Pier, GoGo Drive (to slow down the traffic almost to halt), and the canoes on the sea. Approximately 40 people participated. In a rain, 30 people rallied in front of the Gate all day long to delay the deliveries as long as possible. A rubber boat and 10 canoes stayed around the carrier boats and successfully delayed the departure.
Today, 420 truckloads were delivered. Usual daily delivery is about 600; therefore, I say that we reduced the delivery by a volume equivalent to one carrier boat
Past 3:00pm, maybe due to sticky soil causing belt conveyer malfunction, the work was stopped for the day, and 41 dump trucks headed back with the undelivered load.
(Other)
Of 3 dugongs, each designated as a natural treasure, who had been confirmed to live in Okinawa sea area, one was found dead in the sea off a jetty of Nakijinn Village situated next to Nago City. Three dugongs were identified as A, B, and C. It is suspected that the dead was dugong-B which was last seen in the nearby sea on January 8 this year. Eelgrass, a staple diet of dugongs, has been reduced greatly due to construction of the new base. It has been reported that 3 dugongs are circling along Okinawa beaches in search for eelgrass. Of the remaining 2 dugongs, dugong-A has not been sighted since September 2018, and dugong-C since September 2015.
A few days ago, a sea turtle swimming toward the beach in Oura Bay was sighted. Being unable to find the beach to lay eggs, she seemed perplexed. The beach has been surrounded by the fences and not accessible due to construction of the new base.
Shallow water to provide staple food for dugongs and a beach for sea turtles to lay eggs have been destroyed to build the new military base for the USA with Japan’s tax money. What a fool administration we ever have to endure!
(At a Prefectural Citizens’ Meeting, over 10,000 people insisted, “The will of the people is clear!” and “Stop depositing dirt and sand!”)
All Okinawa organized and held “3.16 Prefectural Citizens’ Meeting to Stop the New Base” at Shin-Toshinn Park in Naha City on March 16. Co-leaders of All Okinawa, Mr. Inamine Susumu and Ms. Takazato Suzuyo, and some members of Diet, Prefectural Assembly, and Municipal Councils made speeches to demand the Administration “to respect the will of the people as shown in the Referendum” and both American and Japanese administrations “to immediately stop construction of the new base.”
The participants represented all generations; many young people and families with children.
