Okinawans Rally after Arrest of U.S. Marine in Robbery-Murder
Naha, Okinawa Pref., Oct. 5 (Jiji Press)--About 100 people gathered near the Okinawa prefectural government building Sunday, in protest after a U.S. Marine was arrested in a murder-robbery case in the southernmost Japan prefecture. Many participants voiced anger at the case and many other crimes committed by those linked to U.S. military bases in Okinawa, with one of them saying, "How much ...
Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, October 5 (Jiji Press) - Around 100 people assembled near the Okinawa prefectural government building on Sunday to demonstrate following the arrest of a U.S. Marine in a murder-robbery incident. Many attendees expressed their outrage over the situation and the numerous other crimes linked to U.S. military bases in Okinawa. One individual lamented, "How much longer must we endure all of this?"
Okinawa police apprehended Devin Jacob Ballard, a Marine stationed at the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma air base in Ginowan, Okinawa, on Sunday. Ballard is accused of murdering a 39-year-old woman inside a hotel room in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, and subsequently stealing her possessions on Saturday. At the protest rally, which was organized as a result of a social media proposal, a woman in her 40s from Nago, accompanied by her 4-year-old son, remarked, "It's contradictory that a serviceman stationed at a U.S. military base in Okinawa, meant to protect Japan, has taken a civilian's life."
Another woman, also in her 40s, from Ginowan expressed, "I don't want to witness any more people getting hurt."
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