Arab News Japan 

TOKYO: During Sunday’s Closing Ceremony of one of the most controversial Olympics and Paralympics in history, those opposed to the Games continued to protest, shifting their target to the International Olympic Committee and next year’s Beijing Olympics. 

Around 40 people gathered in the Japanese capital to protest the hosting of the Games. The demonstrators were guarded by over a hundred riot police at the Sendagaya train station near the Olympic Stadium, where the Paralympic Closing Ceremony was being held. 

About 20 demonstrators, who were waiting for the arrival of their comrades that had been demonstrating at Harajuku station were told by the police to clear the area.

The police started shoving the protesters, saying that the staff working at the Sendagaya metro station had asked them to evacuate the area in front of the station. Workers at the adjacent JR station categorically denied asking the police to remove the demonstrators.

Confronting the demonstrators who did not want to move and instead continue preparing their demonstration, police officers began to push the demonstrators forcibly and lift them up to move them to the other side of the police lines.  Other protesters arrived and started to surround the police, who eventually allowed the protest to proceed normally.

Some protesters wore masks of Olympic officials and mascots, while others danced near banners that said “Stop killing the poor” and “Cancel the Olympics” despite the fact that this year’s Games had finished.

Others protested against police actions in earlier demonstrations, while one banner even called for the end of the “Emperor System.”

Symbolically, the protesters then cut a banner decorated with the Olympic rings.