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Return Leo! Return Our Fellows of Kamagasaki!
translated by jfissures|
4/5 Great Oppression is Inadmissible!
Return Leo! Return Our Fellows of Kamagasaki!
At 19:00 pm on April 10th, a documentary filmmaker Leo Satoh was unlawfully arrested at a polling station in Nishinari District of Osaka. The details are as follows:
At around 18:00 pm, several dozens of people including Leo were walking down the street and calling out to the passersby for going to vote. Thereafter he went to the polling station to vote himself, but when he finished his ballot, he was grabbed by six to seven policemen and forcibly taken away.
The background story is: In 2007 the Osaka City removed certificate of residency of 2088 people who had registered their residency at social centers such as Kamagasaki Liberation Center, House of Home [Furusato no Ie], and NPO Kamagasaki by a pretext that these addresses differ from their permanent residencies. Once certificate of residency is removed, one can no longer get various licenses including drivers’ license; one loses the right to vote; one’s life faces difficulties in all aspects.
Since then, a movement has been launched to recover their certificate of residency. The workers and activists of Kamagasaki went to the polling station to recover the right to vote in every election. Participating in these actions, Leo was also documenting them with his video camera. Before his arrest, on April 5th, five participants of the movement were arrested while their homes were raided. On the 6th, another member was arrested. When his home was raided, Leo was absent, but his 250 DV tapes were all confiscated.
It is evident that the mass arrest, namely, the 4/5 Great Oppression was a sheer violence to the people who were seeking to recover their certificate of residency; and that it is nothing but a suppression of speech.
We protest against the unlawful arrest as well the suppression over the freedom of speech.
As a resident of Nishinari District of Osaka, Leo went to the polling station – what was illegal about it? What was wrong with calling out to citizens for going to vote? Especially during the time of election campaign, when all city officials were calling for voting noisily by sound truck and posting posters all over town! We will not accept the conduct of the power arresting the seven who were seeking the right to live. We will continue to fight until the seven are regained. And after they return, we will never forget the oppression and what the city and the police have been doing, and will continue to raise our voice of protest.
Return Our Fellows!
Return Kamagaaki’s Certificate of Residency!
We demand an immediate release of the seven. We demand an immediate return of the DV tapes.
We call out to you for paying attention to this affair and for solidarity!
We also would like to ask you to send us a solidarity message and donation for support.
4/12/2011, The Group of Anger against the 4/5 Great Oppression
Telephone: 011-81-90-6371-5834
E-mail: tohyo-go410
Blog: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/FreeK/
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