World IN BRIEF : JAPAN : 3,300 Protest U.S. Bases, Lease Plan

More than 3,300 people demonstrated throughout Japan against U.S. military bases in Okinawa as the lease on a small patch of base land on the southern island was about to run out. Opposition to the bases intensified after the rape of a 12-year-old girl in September involving three U.S. servicemen. Okinawans have also been angered by government plans to force landowners to renew leases for base land. About 1,500 riot police were stationed around a U.S. naval communications facility, where the lease was to expire at midnight. But the demonstrations were peaceful.