Japanese police on Tuesday prevented a group of Taiwanese
indigenous people from entering the Tokyo-based Yasukuni Shrine,
where they had planned to protest against the enshrinement of their
relatives who died while serving in the Imperial Japanese Army
during World War II.
The police claimed that their actions were in the best interest
of the group, protecting it from a possible conflict with Japanese
right wingers who were milling around the shrine.
The group, led by Kao Chin Su-mei, arrived at the shrine on
Tuesday morning in buses.
"The police even didn't allow us to get off the buses," Kao Chin
told Xinhua.
"We just want to liberate the souls of our ancestors," Kao Chin
told reporters. "We expect people in Japan to support our peaceful
demand."
The Taiwanese brandished placards that read: "Apologize to
former colonies" and "Remove our ancestors' names (from the
enshrinement list at Yasukuni)."
"Although we couldn't enter the shrine today, we will come again
with ten times more supporters until the shrine returns our
ancestors' spirit tablets and removes their names from the list,"
Kao Chin said, adding that the group will never give up their
demand for justice.
The group also displayed photos showing the Japanese army's
atrocities committed against Taiwan's indigenous people during the
war of aggression.
Kao Chin later slammed the Japanese government and police forces
at a press conference: "We always use peaceful negotiations to make
our demands, but have been repeatedly cheated by the self-assumed
'democratic and liberal' Japanese government."
The Taiwanese natives arrived in Tokyo on Monday on a weeklong
protest tour with three things on their agenda: to remove their
ancestors' names from the shrine's enshrinement list, to call on
peace-loving Japanese not to visit the shrine, and to urge Japanese
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to put an end to his Yasukuni
visits.
Koizumi has visited the Shinto shrine, which honors 14 Class-A
war criminals responsible for Japan's war of aggression against its
Asian neighbors, once every year since taking office in April 2001.
Last month, he indicated his plans during a parliamentary meeting
to visit the shrine again later this year.
(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2005)