SCENES FROM THE BATTLE, AND THE RALLY, WITH NATURAL SOUND.




Initials RM/VS/JF/ES



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: SCENES RESEMBLING A MEDIEVAL BATTLE OF OPPOSING HORDES DISTURBED THE SERENITY OF SASEBO, IN JAPAN YESTERDAY (WEDNESDAY) AS 800 STEEL-HELMETED STUDENTS CLASHED WITH POLICE, STEEL-HELMETED, CARRYING SHIELDS AND WIELDING HEAVY BATONS. SOME 100 PEOPLE WERE INJURED IN THE CLASH, WHICH WAS FOLLOWED BY A RALLY OF ABOUT 25,000 LEFT-WING STUDENTS PROTESTING AGAINST THE PROPOSED VISIT OF THE UNITED STATES NUCLEAR AIRCRAFT CARRIER "ENTERPRISE".

THE STUDENTS, MANY OF THEM CARRYING LONG WOODEN STAVES, TRIED TO CROSS A BRIDGE APPROACHING THE U.S. SASEBO NAVAL BASE WHERE THE ENTERPRISE IS DUE LATER THIS WEEK. RIOT POLICE MOVED IN TO DISPERSE THE STONE-THROWING STUDENTS WITH CLUBS. TEAR GAS AND HIGH-PRESSURE HOSES. POLICE SAID THE INJURED INCLUDED 68 STUDENTS, 52 POLICEMEN, FIVE NEWSMEN AND 10 BYSTANDERS. TWENTY WERE ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL.

SOME 27 STUDENTS WERE ARRESTED DURING THE CLASH IN WHICH BOTH POLICE AND DEMONSTRATORS WERE CLUBBED, KICKED AND CHASED INTO THE COLD WATERS OF THE SASEBO RIVER. DOCTORS AT A HOSPITAL NEAR THE SCENE OF THE CLASH SAID THEY TREATED ABOUT 700 PEOPLE AFFECTED BY TEAR GAS, INCLUDING ABOUT 200 BYSTANDERS AND NEWSMEN. THE PROTESTING STUDENTS BELONG TO THE SAMPA RENGO, A LEFT-WING ORGANISATION WHICH STAGED A FIERCE BATTLE WITH POLICE NEAR TOKYO AIRPORT LAST AUTUMN.

LATER, ABOUT 25,000 LEFT-WING OPPONENTS OF THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT, INCLUDING STUDENTS, GATHERED IN SASEBO FOR A MASSIVE MARCH OF THE U.S. NAVAL BASE. HEAVILY ARMED POLICE STOOD GUARD AROUND THE BASE AS THE DEMONSTRATORS HELD THEIR RALLY IN THE CENTRE OF SASEBO. THE LEFT-WING GROUP CLAIM THAT THE PURPOSE OF THE "ENTERPRISE'S" VISIT IS TO INVOLVE JAPAN FURTHER IN THE VIETNAM WAR AND TO INFLUENCE JAPAN FURTHER TO CHANGE ITS ANTI-NUCLEAR POLICY.