The civil movement contributed to removal of the belt conveyors which had been installed at Motobu Shiokawa Pier. The installation was made by a vendor in January this year without permisssion by Okinawa Prefecture that manages ports, which showed the impatience of the Okinawa Defense Bureau that wants to accelerate the shipping operation. Okinawa Prefecture will demand three months fee for the illegal installation.
In addition, removal of an old pier at Awa, demanded by civil groups, will be performed as early as in this autumn. The permit extension was approved only for the “duration of time required for demolition work.”
A civil group has made appeals to the prefectural residents in front of the prefectural office for one week since the end of last month. In addition, another two groups have held a series of negotiation with the department of the prefectural office in charge. The Okinawa Defense Bureau, which fell short of two expectations, will have difficulty with their future shipping operation. The photo below shows the dismantling work of belt conveyors located at Motobu Shiokawa Pier. It will be removed today.
(In front of Camp Schwab Gate)
The sit-in protest was started at 8:30 a.m. with energetic singing voice of women. 35 citizens participated, and 20 or more riot police officers came out of the base. The chief of the riot police patiently waited up to 9:10 a.m. for the protestors to finish singing. I heard that he will be transfered to another work location this year. In contrast to the previous chief, he is friendly, not abruptly removing the protestors. He took command gracefully under accusing eyes of the citizens every day. He sometimes listened, with a smile, to a speech made in Okinawan dialect. We respect him for his hard work in front of the gate for two years!
A convoy of trucks made deliveries three times, and total of 172 vehicles entered to the base.
(In front of Ryukyu Cement Awa Pier)
With Hiroji Yamashiro in the lead, the citizens continued their strong protest against the dump trucks that tried to enter the pier by turning left. 10 members of Go Go Drive campaign drove around on a national road to delay the run of the dump trucks. The riot police members who newly came on board were still awkward in dealing with the protestors. They tried to remove the citizens by force, which caused troubles here and there. I am afraid that troubles may frequently occur with new police officers for a while.
665 vehicles delivered soil/sand, and 575 truckloads were loaded to three cargo ships. The delivery continued up to 20:00 p.m. yesterday, and 947 dump trucks delivered soil/sand.
(Motobu Shiokawa Pier)
The work was stopped at 9:30 a.m. due to high waves. 99 truckloads of soil/sand were loaded to a cargo ship.
Number of dump trucks to date and percentage against the total
The weight and the volume of earth/soil were estimated per experts’ advice
Number of dump trucks which made delivery from December 2018 to the end of December 2019 114,601(1.68%)
| 28（Sat） | 30（Mon） | 31（Tue） | Ari,1（Wed） | 2（Thr） | 3（Fri） | |
| Awa | 0 | 733 | 795 | 575 | ||
| Shiokawa | 0 | 321 | 380 | 99 |
| Number of dump trucks ※ |
Weightt of earth/sand
※① |
Converted to volume
※② |
Volume per Total
※③ |
| 169,968 | 1,019,808ｔ | 509,904㎥ | 2.472% |
