Protests erupt at the largest local port in Fukushima, Japan
2023-08-29
On the afternoon of the 27th local time, a protest rally against nuclear contaminated water initiated by several opposition parties and trade union groups in Japan was held near Onahama Port, the largest local port in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. About 500 people from all over Japan participated in the rally. The people at the rally expressed their firm opposition to the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company blatantly violating the commitments they made to the Fukushima Fisheries Group many years ago, and disregarding the opposition of many parties to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the sea. A number of MPs from the opposition parties who participated in the rally unanimously demanded that the Japanese government immediately cancel the nuclear contaminated water discharge plan, suspend the sea discharge operation, and protect the livelihood of local fishery practitioners.
Mizuho Fukushima, member of the Japanese Senate and leader of the Social Democratic Party, delivered a speech at the rally and pointed out that the people in the disaster-stricken areas of Fukushima have persisted in achieving post-disaster revitalization for more than ten years until today, and the Japanese government’s nuclear-contaminated water discharge has destroyed these efforts. The discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea violated the provisions of the London Convention prohibiting the dumping of radioactive materials into the sea. She stressed that she will work with the general public to stop the "atrocity" of nuclear contaminated water being discharged into the sea.
Woo Won-sik, a member of the National Assembly and an advisor to the Democratic Party of Korea's "Countermeasures Committee to Prevent Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Polluted Water from Discharging into the Sea", said that most people in South Korea oppose the Japanese government's discharge of nuclear polluted water into the sea, and South Korea will petition the international community through the International Human Rights Council and other means to continue to oppose the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea. This is not an anti-Japanese movement, but an act of justice to protect the ocean and the future of mankind. Japan will become a "shameful" country because of the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea. If Japan wants to regain its dignity, the only correct way out is to stop the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea as soon as possible.
Haruo Ono, a fisherman who has been fishing for more than 50 years in Shinji Town, Fukushima Prefecture, voiced his opposition to the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water at the rally. "What did the fishermen do wrong, what did Fukushima do wrong? Don't hurt Fukushima anymore, don't hurt the fishermen anymore." He said that the decision of the Japanese government and politicians to discharge the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea completely ignored the objections of ordinary fishermen. After the Fukushima nuclear accident, Fukushima fishermen lost their normal fishing workplaces, and many fishermen have suffered both physically and psychologically for more than a decade. The discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea once again perpetuates this pain on fishermen.
Katsuo Chiba from the Aizu area of Fukushima told reporters at the rally that the world’s oceans are connected, and the uncertain risk of Japan’s nuclear-contaminated water discharge will fill the entire ocean environment with the cycle of ocean currents, threatening the entire earth’s ecosystem. Japan It will also bear the heavy label of "global ocean polluter".