Arab News Japan

Tokyo: Tamatsu Sugano, the author of the bestseller Investigation of the Japan Conference who was on hunger strike for 19 days, attempted to cross the street at a crosswalk that leads to the Prime Minister’s official residence before being arrested by police.

It was 11 minutes past 6 p.m. when Mr. Sugano crossed the zebra crossing that leads to the official residence, but halfway through he stopped and sat down in the middle of the crossing.

Riot police picked him up and ushered him to the sidewalk as the pedestrian traffic light turned red as it was an accident hazard. A policeman fell to the ground during the incident.

The protester insisted to the police that he should be able to hold his sign, which they did not allow him to carry.  The author had the officers read the code of conduct and told them they should respect this charter in accordance with the Japanese constitution and allow citizens to move freely.

On October 9, a constitution-defending group was also prevented from reaching the Prime Minister’s Official Residence while people passing by were able to move around freely.

Mr. Tamatsu Sugano has been protesting for 19 days against the withdrawal of six researchers from the Science Council of Japan due to their political convictions and their opposition to the Suga administration on the issue of a security law passed under the mandate of Prime Minister Abe. The law allows Japan to participate in military conflicts by assisting allies.