正午の時報を合図に、軍国主義者たちが黙祷を捧げ、
そこから数百メートル離れた路上で、戦争反対を訴える
私たちの友人が警察官に逮捕されました。かれらは、
戦没兵士への「追悼」がさらなる戦争を準備するもの
であることをうったえ、戦争と軍国主義に反対する
プラカードを掲げていました。プラカードを持った
約５０名の市民が靖国神社に向かって足をすすめよう
とするなかで、おおぜいの重装備の警察官が彼らを
取り囲み、たまたま通りがかっただけの人々をも
まきこんで、暴力的に圧迫しました。
　そうして、包囲した市民のなかから４名を引きずり
出し、逮捕したのです。警察は逮捕理由を「公務執行
妨害」であると言っています。しかしそこにいかなる
正当な公務があったというのでしょうか。
　日本の警察が、些細な理由で市民を逮捕することや、
逮捕した市民を「過激派」と呼びなすことは、珍しく
ありません。そういうことに、私たちは慣れてしまって
います。
　市民が自由に活動し意思表示をする権利がおかされ、
警察の横暴と強権はますますエスカレートしています。
市民が集まることや表現することが、愚かしい行為で
あるかのようにされようとしています。私たちは、
戦前戦中の怖ろしい時代に逆戻りしているのではない
でしょうか。
　私たちは戦争に反対します。そして、戦争反対の
意思表示すら許さないような軍国主義と警察国家に
反対します。裁かれるべきは、プラカードを掲げる
市民ではなく、市民を圧迫する者です。戦争反対を
訴える市民がいったいどれだけ「過激」なのか、
警察は「過激」でないのか、本当の「過激派」は
誰なのかを、私たちは問うていきたいと思います。
　ご支援とご注目をお願いいたします。

●カンパ振込先　
みずほ銀行　中野北口支店（２４３）
　　　　　　普　１０２５４８８　ヤマグチモトアキ

８月１５日事件救援会（ANTIFA 815）
●連絡先
東京都港区新橋２－８－１６石田ビル
救援連絡センター気付
電話：090-2901-9202
e-mail：no2yasukuni (at) sanpal.co.jp
antifa815.podzone.org/

Emergency Statement by the Supporters Group of the Four Unlawfully Arrested


On August 2005, Japanese right-wing groups who hoisted banners proclaiming support for militarism and Xenophobia had a big conference with six thousand participants at Yasukuni Shrine, Tokyo. At the same time as these rightists, politicians arguing in favor of Japan’s nuclear armament, including Shinzo Abe and Shintaro Ishihara, and a number of Cabinet and Diet members visited the shrine to offer their “condolences” to the war dead on the 60th anniversary of the “end” of the war. Collectively their actions are tantamount to acceptance of wars ranging from Japan’s past aggression in East Asia to the recent Iraq War, overlooking Japan’s responsibility for bloodshed and the massacre of people in other countries, pushing Japan’s own history as perpetrator and the lives of its victims into the abyss of forgetfulness of indifference.

At the signal of a 12 o’clock bell, while the militarists stopped to join a moment of silence, our friends crying out against these wars were arrested by police on the street just a few hundreds meters away. The group was holding up placards against war and militarism, with the appealing that “commemorating” the former soldiers’ deaths is preparation for moving on to another war. While the crowd of about fifty citizens holding the placards was approaching Yasukuni Shrine, an enormous number of heavily-armed police surrounded the citizens and started violent maneuvers against them, even sweeping up some passers-by in the process. Four citizens were dragged out from the crowd and finally arrested. The police stated the four were arrested for “obstructing officers from performing their duty,” however we strongly question whether there was a valid reason to call this repressive behavior official duties when they were not doing anything other than swooping down on these anti-war people.

It is not unusual that Japanese police arrest citizens for trivial reasons or call the people they arrest “radicals” or ”extremists.” Unfortunately, we, anti-war people have gotten used to witnessing or finding ourselves involved in such situations. Now we see strengthened infringement of our right to freedom of political activities and expression of thought, while so-called law-enforcement is becoming increasingly highhanded and aggressive. What we are seeing is a concerted effort to distort the reality of citizen’s activities to make them appear to be a threat to public peace and order when in reality the actual threat is coming from the law enforcers themselves. We feel now on the verge of crisis of reverse to the horrifying and repressive era before and during the war.

We oppose wars. We oppose militarism and a police state which tries to stop our manifestation of simply being anti-war. Who should be judged are not the citizens holding placards but those who seek to repress their actions. We call on all of you to consider how “extreme” those anti-war citizens were, and whether in fact it was not the law-enforcement authorities whose actions are truly extreme.

We appreciate your continuing support for and attention to our activities.


The supporting group for the arrested anti-war friends 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ANTIFA 815


Contact/ fund-raising:
Kyuen Renraku Center (Rescue Assistant Center)
Ishida Bldg., 2-8-16 Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Bank account to sent support funds:
Bank: Mizuho Bank
Branch: Nakano-kitaguchi
Saving Account 1025488
Account Name: Motoaki Yamaguchi