Protesters confronted a Japan Coast Guard vessel in Henoko Bay, Okinawa last year. | JON MITCHELL
TOKYO — Three protesters were detained at the gate of a United States Marine base on Okinawa on Sunday during the largest demonstration yet against the start of construction of a new airfield there, protesters and local media said.
The Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper said that at least 2,000 demonstrators gathered outside Camp Schwab, near the village of Henoko, where Japanese and U.S. officials have agreed to relocate the busy Futenma air base from a more densely populated part of the southern Japanese island. The relocation, first proposed in the 1990s, has been delayed for years because of local opposition, much to the frustration of Washington.
But construction of the replacement airfield appears to have finally begun under Shinzo Abe, the conservative Japanese prime minister who has vowed closer ties between his nation and the U.S., its postwar protector. Workers have begun setting buoys and boring into the coral-filled seabed off Camp Schwab in preparation for landfill to build a V-shaped pair of runways.
Small bands of protesters have been staging demonstrations at the gate since July, at times tussling with security and the police as they have tried to block construction vehicles from entering. In January, a protester was arrested by the police, protesters said.
The protest Sunday was the biggest yet at Camp Schwab’s gate, said the local news media. During the rally, three demonstrators were detained by Japanese security guards protecting the base, though one was later released, according to the Ryukyu Shimpo and several protesters via social media.
The other two men, including an organizer, were turned over to the Japanese police, the newspaper said. U.S. Marine officials on Okinawa could not be reached for comment.
The protesters have pledged to obstruct construction of the runways, saying the airstrip will destroy pristine coral and the habitat of the dugong, a sea mammal similar to a manatee. The new airfield is widely opposed by Okinawans, who blame the huge U.S. military presence here for causing crime and pollution. More than half of the 50,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan are based on Okinawa, which was administered by the United States for a quarter-century after World War II.
The recent construction at Camp Schwab began after the previous Okinawan governor approved a landfill permit in late 2013. He was defeated in an election last year by an opponent of the base.