TOKYO — A large crowd of Japanese people gathered outside the parliament building in Tokyo on Wednesday evening to protest government moves that undermine the country's pacifist constitution, including the deployment of longrange missiles and attempts to ease restrictions on lethal arms exports.

Protesters held placards reading "Protect Article 9", "No War", and "Takaichi Government Step Down Now", while chanting slogans such as "No to constitutional revision" and "No to war", calling for safeguarding Japan's pacifist constitution.

The rally, held in front of the National Diet Building, was organized by Japanese civic groups standing against constitutional revision. Organizers said about 30,000 people attended the demonstration.

One protester, identified as Fujimoto, said the government's deployment of long-range missiles and its plan to lift restrictions on lethal arms exports run counter to the pacifist principles enshrined in the constitution. She said missiles are weapons designed to attack and questioned whether their deployment could be justified as self-defense.

'Never waging war again'

Fujimoto said Japan, a country that suffered atomic bombings, should have the vow of "never waging war again" engraved in its history, and that exporting weapons that could fuel conflicts is unacceptable.

Another protester, surnamed Kin, said the deployment of long-range missiles, among other government moves, violates the pacifist constitution. He said the government has increasingly acted in disregard of the constitution.

According to Tokyo Shimbun's reports, similar demonstrations took place at more than 130 locations across Japan on the same day in coordination with the Tokyo rally, calling for the protection of the pacifist constitution.

Japan's constitution, which took effect in 1947, is often referred to as a pacifist constitution because Article 9 states that the Japanese people have forever renounced war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.

On March 31, Japan deployed long-range missiles with "enemy base strike capabilities" in Kumamoto and Shizuoka prefectures. Japanese media has also reported that the government led by Sanae Takaichi plans to revise the "Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology" and their implementation guidelines by the end of this month, and is considering allowing exports of lethal weapons.

The series of military moves has sparked strong concern and criticism from across Japanese society, with critics saying they are a departure from the country's long-standing "exclusively defense-oriented policy" and undermine the pacifist constitution.

Xinhua