-Japanese Police Arrest Peace Protestors: Please Sign Statement

We, the members of 3.20 Anti-War Youth Solidarity Center would like you to
show your solidarity by signing this statement.

*
Statement of Impeachment to the Repression in front of the U.S. Embassy on
March 20, 2003.

March 21, 2003

At the night of March 20, the day the attack on Iraq launched, many people
gathered around the U.S. Embassy to show their protest against the war or
give their written statements to the ambassador.

But the great shock awaited protesters around the U.S. Embassy. In a few
hundred meters in front of the Embassy, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
arranged a massive amount of police officers and special kind of police cars
which laid in the way and blocked people.

With no explanation, police officers were entirely abusive to protesters,
locked their arms in a full nelson, or pushed shield onto them. Four of the
protesters were took away, confined in a special police car, and taken into
custody. It was reported on the following day that those four protesters
were arrested on suspicion of *interfering with policemen in the execution
of their duties.*

Doesn’t a person who is against the war be allowed to express the statement
of his/her own view? Can a person who is against war be taken away without a
single question asked?

We strongly protest against police violence, malicious arrest, and custody
of people who tried to give their written statements to the U.S. Embassy.

3.20 Anti-War Youth Solidarity Center

Contact: c/o Kyuen Renraku Center, #14 Ishida Bldg.4F 2-8-16 Shinbashi
Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0004 Japan
URL: http://mypage.naver.co.jp/antiwar/
E-mail: antiwar@naver.co.jp