Peaceful G7 protest in Hiroshima as summit begins

(19 May 2023)
RESTRICITON SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hiroshima, Japan - 19 May 2023
1. Protesters gather ahead of a protest march against the G7 in Hiroshima city
2. Protesters practicing ahead of their march
3. Protesters holding signs
4. Protesters holding anti-G7 signs
5. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Satoshi Miura, nonprofit organization worker:
“The G7 has no legal mandate under international law. It is not like a gathering made up of treaties or anything like that. It is a group that gathers only for interests.”
6. Protesters beginning their march
7. Protester leading the crowd
8. Zoom in shot as protesters march
9. Low angle shot of protesters walking by
10. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Satoshi Miura, nonprofit organization worker:
“(Japanese Prime Minister Fumio) Kishida goes around saying that nuclear disarmament is his life's work, but it’s not like that at all. Japan is not part of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. He’s just all talk, and I think it’s a problem.”
11. Tilt up from protester to sign
12. Police watching over protesters as they cross a bridge
13. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Hiroko Taguchi, company employee:
“Going to war may be war for those in power, but for us citizens, life is something that has been given to us and we will suffer. And I think that there is no choice but to be driven into a situation where you have to kill or be driven into a situation where you are killed, so I absolutely do not want war.”
14. Close up of a rainbow-color flag at protest
15. Protesters walking by
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Cody Urban, Organizer of "Resist the US led war movement":
“Our call is to Junk (abandon) the G7. We think there is no negotiating with their agenda. We need to build a new agenda from the grassroots, from the bottom up.”
17. Various of protest

STORYLINE:
Security was tight in Hiroshima, with thousands of police deployed throughout the city as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament and wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions, formally started the summit at Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park.

At the same time approximately 100 protesters gathered a few blocks away, ready to March though the streets of Hiroshima protesting against war and the G7 in general.

Several protesters seemed concerned with the current international situation and feared the current path could potentially lead to war.

Hiroko Taguchi who traveled to Hiroshima from Saga prefecture said that with war "there is no choice but to be driven into a situation where you have to kill or be driven into a situation where you are killed, so I absolutely do not want war.”

Others expressed their general dissatisfaction with the G7.

Satoshi Miura, who works for a nonprofit organization, questioned what mandate the G7 might think it has in the first place.

"G7 has no legal mandate under international law, it is not like a gathering made up of treaties or anything like that, It is a group that gathers only for interests.”

The G7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union.

The visit by world leaders to a park dedicated to preserving reminders of Aug. 6, 1945, when a U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, provided a striking backdrop to the start of the summit.

An estimated 140,000 people were killed in the attack, and a fast-dwindling number of now-elderly survivors have ensured that Hiroshima has become synonymous with anti-nuclear peace efforts.

AP Video shot by Johnson Lai



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