Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Protesters opposing the Tokyo 2020 Olympics gathered outside the official residence of Japanese Prime Minister SUGA Yoshihide Thursday night.

One protestor raised a poster of Ahead Afif Zaqout, a prominent Palestinian sports journalist and footballer killed on July 2014 in an Israeli bombing raid. The demonstrators made themselves heard, using pots and drums and calling on Suga to halt the games.

The anti-Olympic protest gained momentum on Thursday, July 27th, following the announcement of the Tokyo metropolitan government that 3,865 new COVID infections were registered on that day.

Prime minister Suga continued to stress again that cancelation of the Olympics is not an option. He denied earlier in the day that the Olympics had any influence on the spread of the virus.

Protesters shouted slogans against the Tokyo Metropolitan government and the Japanese Olympic Committee. Several activists took turns at the microphone making speeches in which they each denounced “corruption involved in obtaining the games for Japan,” and warning of an “approaching crisis in Tokyo’s hospitals that threatens the collapse of the medical system.”

One protester, moreover, spoke about triathlon athletes who fell ill after swimming in Tokyo Bay.