琉球新報 2016年11月30日 06:30
威力業務妨害容疑で押収したパソコンなどを入れた
段ボール箱を運び出す県警の捜査員ら＝２９日午後３時１９分、
那覇市泉崎の沖縄平和運動センター
沖縄県警警備１課と名護署は２９日、名護市辺野古の米軍キャンプ・シュワブゲート前で１月、コンクリート製ブロックをゲート前に積み上げて普天間飛行場移設工事に抗議し、工事車両の進入と沖縄防衛局の業務を妨害したとして、威力業務妨害の疑いで沖縄平和運動センターの山城博治議長（６４）を含む計４人を逮捕した。県警は逮捕に合わせ、複数箇所で家宅捜索を実施。本紙は６カ所での捜索を確認したが、捜査関係者によると、８カ所を捜索したという。県は２５日、シュワブ内の陸上工事を承諾しており、工事が本格化するのを前に、反対する市民らによる抗議行動をけん制する目的があるとみられる。
逮捕されたのは山城議長、職業不詳男性（６６）＝宜野座村、職業不詳男性（５９）＝名護市、職業不詳男性（４０）＝名護市＝の４人。県警は捜査に支障を来すとして、それぞれの認否を明らかにしていない。
逮捕容疑は１月２８日午後２時５分ごろから同３０日午前８時４１分ごろにかけて、移設工事を阻止するため、米軍キャンプ・シュワブゲート前の路上にコンクリート製ブロック１４００個余りを幅約５メートル、高さ約２メートルに積み上げてゲートをふさぎ、複数人で車両の前に立ちふさがるなどして工事関係車両の搬入と沖縄防衛局の業務を妨害した疑い。
県警は２９日午前から、山城議長の自宅や辺野古新基地建設に反対する市民らが活動拠点としているシュワブゲート前のテント、沖縄平和運動センターなど県内の複数の関係先で家宅捜索を実施し、書類など数十点を押収したとしている。
県警は逮捕した４人について「（事件発生時の抗議行動で）主要な役割を担っており、山城議長が扇動していた」とし、逮捕時期に関しては「多数の人が事件に関わっており、被疑者特定と裏付け捜査に時間を費やした」と説明した。
逮捕された市民と名護署で接見した三宅俊司弁護士は「皆、黙秘している」と説明した。その上で、威力業務妨害の根拠とされるブロックを積む行為について「市民は警察の目の前でブロックを積み、その翌日に警察がそのブロックを撤去する、という行為が繰り返された」とし、抗議が警察の監視下で行われたことを説明。「威力業務妨害なら、警察はブロックを積む前に市民を止めるべきだ」と警察の対応と逮捕の理由の矛盾を指摘した。「１年近くたって逮捕した。異常な状態としか言いようがない」と非難した。
英文へ→Prefectural Police arrest January protest suspects, search protest-related locations
沖縄県警、平和センター捜索 辺野古抗議拠点も 威力業務妨害容疑で４人逮捕
2016年11月30日 06:30
Prefectural Police arrest January protest suspects, search protest-related locations
November 30, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo
Investigators seizing articles such as PCs in
cardboard boxes related to the forcible obstruction of official
business charges. Picture taken on November 29 at 3:19 p.m. at the
Okinawa Peace Movement Center in Izumizaki, Naha City.
On November 29, the Okinawa Prefectural Police and the Nago Police Station arrested four people including Chairman Hiroji Yamashiro of the Okinawa Peace Movement Center. The arrests were made in relation to a protest in January against construction of Futenma Air Station replacement facility. Protesters piled concrete blocks in front of the gate to Camp Schwab in order to keep construction vehicles from entering the camp and obstruct Okinawa Defense Bureau (ODB) activity. The Prefectural Police have conducted several premises searches related to the arrests. Ryukyu Shimpo has confirmed six locations that were searches, but according to officials involved in the searches there are eight. On November 25, the Prefectural Government approved the construction on land inside Camp Schwab, and it appears that the police aim to restrain protect activities prior to the construction proceeding at full speed.
Chairman Yamashiro, a 66-year-old man from Ginoza Village, a 59-year-old man from Nago City, and a 40-year-old man from Nago City are the four who were arrested. The police have not revealed whether any of the suspects have been arraigned, on the grounds that releasing that information would hinder their investigations.
The charges for which the arrests were made took place between about 2:05 p.m. on January 28 and 8:41 a.m. on January 30. They are under suspicion of piling up 1,400 concrete blocks about 5 meters across and 2 meters high on the road leading to Camp Schwab’s gate, blocking the entrance in order to obstruct replacement facility construction. The suspicion is also that several protesters stood together in the way of construction vehicles, barring their entrance and interfering with ODB activity.
Prefectural Police conducted premises searches in the morning on November 30 at Chairman Yamashiro’s residence, the tents in front of Camp Schwab’s gate where citizens opposed to Henoko base construction, the Okinawa Peace Movement Center, and several related locations within Okinawa. They seized dozens of documents and other articles.
Concerning the four arrested people, the Prefectural Police said that the four men played leading roles in the protests, and Chairman Yamashiro, in particular, incited the protest activities. As for the timing of the arrests, the Prefectural Police explained that many people were involved in the incident, and they spent some time identifying the perpetrators and investigating grounds for the arrests.
Lawyer Shunji Miyake interviewed the arrested citizens at Nago Police Station, and explained that they are all keeping silent. He also explained that the protest took place under police surveillance: The act of piling blocks, which is being used as a basis for proving forcible obstruction of official business, was done before the police’s eyes and was repeated after the police removed the blocks the next day. He pointed out that the police’s actions and their reasons for the arrest are inconsistent, and said that if it was forcible obstruction of official business the police would have to have stopped the citizens before they piled the blocks. In addition, he criticized that, “Almost a year had passed [since they engaged in the protest activity] by the time they were arrested,” and professed he had no words to describe the strangeness of this situation.
(English translation T&CT and Erin Jones)
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November 30, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo
