September 11 nuclear protests

The anti-nuclear protest movement turned ugly yesterday, as a dozen people were arrested amidst scuffles between demonstrators, police and nationalists in Shinjuku. Two days prior to the September 11 Stop the Nukes march, police had informed the organisers that they would have to change their scheduled route, nixing plans to hold a mass gathering outside the Studio Alta building at the end of the parade. Things didn't go much better on the day itself, as fights broke out between protestors and a police force that appeared intent on taking a more heavy-handed approach than in previous demonstrations.

Although the route change meant that the march would avoid many of the busiest parts of Shinjuku, it ground to a halt right outside the south exit of the JR station, where fighting broke out and a few arrests were made. Tempers flared again later in the march, when a small contingent of nationalists staged a counter-demonstration close to the Isetan department store, shielded by police and city officials who manhandled anybody that tried to get too close (photographers included). Although their banners proclaimed the kind of arguments that would sit comfortably in a Yomiuri Shimbun editorial, they appeared more interested in provoking the demonstrators in the main parade, screaming through megaphones and flipping the bird as people walked past. Many responded in kind.

As the demonstration neared its finish point in Shinjuku Chuo Park, police were already ordering people to disperse, and we saw at least one person get arrested outside the Odakyu Dai-ichi Seimei building. On arriving at the park, there were no speeches, no music, just the repeated orders of a police officer to go home. It was a fitting end to a frustrating afternoon.

Click here for a gallery of photos from the Stop the Nukes demonstration