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There were approximately 300 participants and 50 police. Ravers, anti-war, anti-Bush and anti-Brand America protesters as well as other political activists were led by a truck loaded with speakers and a DJ.

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They were followed by drummers, an electric guitarist, flag wavers and a team projecting images of dead and injured children Iraqi children as well as messages against American Imperialism, on to buildings.

The demonstration was tightly controlled by the police. Police vehicles were at the beginning and end of the procession. The rear police truck broadcast instructions at the participants throughout the demonstration. Some police were dressed in riot gear and others in plain clothes.

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They doggedly surrounded the demonstration as the participants walked from Yotsubashi to Dotonburi (via Nagahori). A lot of participants wanted to walk on the footpaths, hand out flyers and interact with the public. The police pushed them back into the demo and essentially "funneled" them the whole way. Not one step was allowed outside the designated route.

The demonstration was jointly named "Reclaim the Streets" and "Defend Our Party" The dance party/political protest combination appears to be a reaction against Japanese remilitarization since 9.11, and the so-called 'war on terrorism'. One of the flyers given out at the demonstration said that the street is not not only a place for regulated traffic but a place for mingling and acting against tyranny and military control. War reduces the street for use by regulated traffic only. Dancing is about freedom, not control and gets away from the domination of war and violence.

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The demonstration was videotaped by the police and they also took notes. There were quite a few tense moments between the participants and police. The aggressive way in which the police spoke to participants could be attributed to the arrests at the July 19th "Street Party" in Tokyo. There were also reports from that demonstration of police intimidating, provoking and beating participants.

Was there a reclamation of the streets in Osaka on Sunday? It seemed that many people were there to assert their individual right to be on the street. It was not about defending rights or freedoms in a group sense. For the shoppers observing the demonstration it was a spectacle. Certainly, the police successfully asserted their control of the street in an overtly aggressive way.

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Anyway, it's difficult to take back the street if you need to have a permit and the "protection" of a bus loads of riot gear-clad police.

* images taken by Albie, G and Jen.