Massive protests have taken place all over Japan, asking for the cancellation of the Olympics as the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Games got underway at the national stadium on Friday, 23 July.
According to India Today, the organizers and the International Olympics Committee (IOC) are willing to put their reputation at risk to go ahead with the delayed Olympics amid the challenges they continue to face in another pandemic year.
Dozens of people, surrounded by police, gathered at the city hall with banners saying “Put out the Olympic torch”, “No Olympics”, and one which called the Games a “Global crime against Japan.”
There were also loud protests outside the stadium where fans were not permitted to attend due to the coronavirus pandemic.
”Today is the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympics and we strongly call for its cancellation. So it is a protest against the Olympics. Now the Olympic flame is coming to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, so now we are protesting here,” a protestor said.
“After that, we will protest together at Harajuku station and then a demonstration near the Olympic stadium. The police are highly regulated around the stadium so the demonstration has to be far from it. We are trying to get close to the stadium and keep up the protest,” she further said.
So far there have been 67 cases of Covid-19 infections in Japan among those accredited for the Games since July 1, when many athletes and officials started arriving.