Protect the nature and the lives of the people in Takae!〜forcible removal of the sit-in tent is imminent at N1 rear gate

 I arrived at Takae in Okinawa Prefecture in early morning of July 27. I drove through Route 70 surrounded by northern Okinawa’s evergreen oak rainforest to the Takae district. When I entered the district, I passed many police vehicles and defense agency vehicles from all over Japan. As I was coming closer to the sit-in tent, I felt the atmosphere subsequently became intense and heavy. In order to build forcibly the helipad for the Osprey, more than 500 riot police were mobilized from various places in the main island of Japan such as Naniwa, Izumi, Tama, Adachi, Nerima, Aichi, Chiba and Kanagawa to come to Takae, which is a small village with a population of about 150. Everyday trucks, guarded by many riot police officers and security guards, carry construction materials through the gate in front of the N1 tent. Before dawn on July 22, five days before my arrival at Takae, the riot police removed violently the residents and supporters staging a sit-in there, the N1 tent as a foothold for protest and then brought in three hydraulic power shovels and gravel trucks. They also set up a station forcibly. The watch-gates in two places were blocked with fences, and a part of the sit-in tent at the N1 rear gate was also fenced in. (HOSHINO Megumi)

 高江の生活と自然を守ろう！～「N1裏テン ト」の強制撤去迫る

 7月27日早朝、私は沖縄・高江に到着した。イタジイ の緑深い県道を走って高江区に入ると、日本全国から集まった警 察車両や防衛局の車両とすれ違い、座り込みテントに近づくほど ものものしい空気が伝わってきた。なにわ、和泉、多摩、足立、 練馬、愛知、千葉、神奈川。全国から500名以上の機動隊員が、人 口150人ほどのこの小さな高江に、オスプレイパッド建設の工事強 行のために集まっている。メインのN1テント前のゲートからは、 たくさんの機動隊員たちと警備員たちによって守られたトラック が連日、建設のための資材を運んでいる。私が着いた朝から遡る こと5日、7月22日の未明。機動隊は座り込む住民や支援者たちを 暴力的に排除し、“座り込み拠点であるN1テントの強制撤 去”“ユンボ3台と砂利輸送車の搬入”“詰所の設置”を強行し た。2ヶ所ある監視ゲートもフェンスで封鎖され、N1裏テントの一 部もフェンスで囲われてしまった。（ほしのめぐみ）