Protests Taking Place in Japan's Hiroshima as G7 Summit Kicks Off
05:35 GMT 19.05.2023 (Updated: 05:37 GMT 19.05.2023)
© Sputnik / Sputnik photo / Hundreds of Japanese citizens take to the streets in the city of Hiroshima to protest against the upcoming G7 Summit from May 19 to 21
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HIROSHIMA, Japan, (Sputnik) - Demonstrations and protests are taking place in the Japanese city of Hiroshima where the G7 summit opened early Friday, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
People holding banners such as "Never allow US-Japanese aggressive war on China!" and "No G7! No imperialist summit! No nuclear war!" marched through the streets of Hiroshima in a tight police ring. The number of police officers on the streets seemed to outnumber the demonstrators, the correspondent said.
Police officers were exercising restraint, but there were cases when demonstrators were pushed in the back to speed up or were snatched from the crowd. The protesters, in turn, chained themselves together and continued their way down the streets in rows.
"About 350 people gathered today. About one-third are students. We launched the action yesterday and will continue every day. Today, there will be one more rally, after which the demonstration will head toward the Atomic Bomb Dome [an exhibition facility in Hiroshima Prefecture until 1945, the only building that survived the atomic bombing]," Hiroshima citizen Ryo Miyahara, the head of the executive committee of the "Hiroshima against Atomic War" rally and the organizer of the protests, told Sputnik.
Miyahara added that one person was detained during a demonstration on Thursday.
"Yesterday, at the demonstration, a Hiroshima University student was detained. This happened in the place closest to the area of the Japan-US top-level meeting. This is not just unfortunate, it is unacceptable. We had a fairly active demonstration today after what happened yesterday. But yesterday was a very peaceful demonstration. The police started pushing, people started falling. It was pretty violent," Miyahara said.
The G7 Summit is being held in Hiroshima from May 19-21 and will focus on the Ukraine conflict, economic security, green investments, and developments in the Indo-Pacific region.
Apart from G7 members, Japan, as this year's chair, extended invitations to India, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Cook Islands, and the Comoro Islands, as well as the heads of several international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization.
