Okinawa protest opposes US military after killing

Demonstrators call for Marines to leave, army presence to be reduced

Tens of thousands of people on Okinawa protested on Sunday against the presence of US military bases on the Japanese island, many wearing black to mourn the rape and killing of a local woman in which an American contractor is a suspect.

The rally called for a review of the US-Japanese security agreement, which burdens Okinawa with hosting the bulk of US troops in Japan. Also contentious is a plan to relocate a Marine Corps air station to a less-populated part of the southwestern island that developed after public anger erupted in 1995 over the rape of a girl by three American servicemen.