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Thousands of protesters attend a rally at a baseball stadium in Naha, Okinawa
Prefecture, on Sunday. The event was called to oppose the planned relocation of U.S.
Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. | KYODO
May 17, 2015
Thousands of people rallied in Okinawa on Sunday to protest a controversial U.S. air base, as a two-decade-old bitter row over its relocation drags on.
Okinawa is home to more than half of the U.S. service personnel stationed in Japan under the bilateral defense alliance, a proportion many islanders say is too high.
U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma has become emblematic of that ill will since Washington announced plans to move it in 1996, hoping to ease tensions with the host community after the gang rape of a schoolgirl by American servicemen.
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