翻訳 63 (w)
Bloody May Day (血のメーデー事件, chi no mēdē jiken) refers to a day of disturbances and clashes between demonstrators and police primarily at the plaza in front of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Thursday May 1, 1952. A number of left wing organizations are believed to have been the driving force behind the events, using the day as part of preparations for a violent revolution [1]. Bloody May Day led to the first fatality in the post-World War Two student movement.
1 Overview
2 Aftermath
Overview
Three days after the end of the Allied occupation of Japan, on May 1, 1952, at the 23rd International Workers' Day May Day event, a number of people resolved to liberalize the plaza in front of the Imperial Palace and protest in their opposition to the rearmament of the National Police Reserve. These events also took place within an atmosphere of anti-American sentiment. The rally began around 10.20am and finished at 12.10pm, though during the rally a number of people trespassed into the plaza in front of the Imperial Palace, led by Zengakuren and others. From 12.25pm, the scheduled demonstration march course was divided into north, east, south, central and west sections. Again, many attempts were made to instigate trespass into the plaza, and a number of demonstrators drifted from the set course and threw stones. Leaders of the south course were assaulted for refusing to intrude into the plaza, resulting in some chaotic scenes. Demonstrators finally arrived in order at their scheduled destination between 2pm and 4pm before dispersing. A number of the demonstrators who had dispersed in Hibiya Park, particularly from the especially chaotic south course, were guided by Zengakuren and youths from left wing organizations and formed a scrum of around 2,500 people that also included day laborers and Koreans, which then spilled out through the main gate of Hibiya Park [2].
The Metropolitan Police Department made the decision to wait for the organizers to gain control over the march and the area, though organized 5,600 personnel to act as crowd control, and over 10,000 from all stations to be on standby and ready to respond. Around 60 people from the Marunouchi police station managed to restrain a crowd that crossed the Hibiya intersection in an unplanned demonstration, but were subject to attacks from bamboo spears, clubs and thrown stones, which left 13 people injured. Demonstrators proceeded north while throwing stones and breaking the windows of 19 foreign vehicles (owned by US Forces in Japan). The first company of the District Reserve Force and 470 reserves from Mita, Minakami and Takanawa police stations stood on guard at Babasaki gate, and other than a section of the District Reserve Force who were equipped with pistols and tear gas, they only carried batons. In an effort not to cause harm to passersby in the area, the head of the District Reserve Force lifted the cordon on the road, only for the demonstrators to surge into the plaza in front of the Imperial Palace [2][1][3].
The trespassing demonstrators started throwing stones at personnel from Marunouchi police station on guard in front of Nijūbashi Bridge and reinforcements in the form of two squadrons from the first company of District Reserve Force. The Iwaidamachi police box was pushed over and policeman were beaten and had their pistols stolen. Police units used tear gas to suppress the rioters, and around 3pm they retreated to the Chuo expressway, resulting in a stand off. At around the same time, rioters broke through police cordons at Sakura Gate and Iwaidabashi, and swelled in size to around 8,000 people. The police redeployed the Reserve Force in an effort to strengthen their position, though in response to the fierce fighting of the rioters, a number fired their pistols. In the resulting chaos, the police made a systematic effort to disperse the rioters in one go, and by 3.40pm, the majority of the rioters had been removed from the plaza [2].
Those rioters who had been removed from the plaza however continued attacks elsewhere, and at Iwaidabashi, four members of the first company of the District Reserve Force were surrounded, pummelled with poles, thrown into the Gaisen-bori Moat and had stones thrown at them. Another four members were surrounded and seemed likely to experience the same treatment, but managed to escape by firing warning shots with pistols. In addition, a number of policeman were assaulted and had their pistols stolen. Around 3.50pm, rioters turned over and set light to 14 foreign vehicles stationed at a moat in front of Sakura Gate, and also surrounded and assaulted a member of first transportation division staff who was passing through the area in a sidecar. Rioters then set fire to the sidecar. 13 of the firefighters dispatched to extinguish the fires also sustained injuries after being hit by thrown stones and physically attacked. A fire brigade hose was also cut to pieces. The rioters began to disperse around 4pm, though the Yūrakuchо̄ police box was subsequently attacked, and a number of people ran to Hibiya Park to continue throwing stones. The plaza in front of the Imperial Palace and Hibiya Park returned to calm some time after 6pm [2].
As a result of the riots, one of the demonstrators died [4] and 200 people were injured [1] (according to the organizers, two people died and 638 people were injured [2]), while on the police side, 832 people were injured (71 seriously injured) [2]. Consideration was given on the day to the deployment of the National Police Reserve (present day Ground Self Defence Force), but ultimately this was not ordered as the situation was controlled by the normal police force [5]. The reserves dispatched in this incident were part of the Reserve Force, which later became riot police.
They are not to be confused with the National Police Reserve that went on to become the Ground Self Defence Force.
Aftermath
Arrests of demonstrators totalled 1232, of which 261 were charged with rioting offences. Confrontation between the prosecution and defendants led to a protracted trial. While an initial decision made at Tokyo District Court on January 28, 1970 partially established the existence of rioting offences, an appeal court decision made by Judge Arakawa Shо̄zaburо̄ at Tokyo High Court in November 21, 1972 overturned the rioting charges, returning non-guilty verdicts in all cases other than in the instance of 16 people who were convicted of acts of violence. The prosecution subsequently decided to abandon a final appeal.
Immediately after the incident, there were intense exchanges between ruling and opposition parties in the National Diet as to who should take responsibility. In June, ineptitude in dealing with successive riots and opposition to plans to establish the Subversive Activities Prevention Act and the Maintenance of Order During Demonstration Activities Act led to a no confidence motion being put forward in Attorney General Kimura Tokutarо̄ in the House of Representatives, though this ultimately failed [6].
In the same year, 1952, other incidents occurred, such as the murder of a police officer in Sapporo known as the Shiratori incident; protests and arrests in Suida known as the Suida incident; clashes between police and protestors in Nagoya known as the О̄su incident; a politically motivated robbery known as the Akebono incident; as well as incidents called by urban guerilla organization “Core Self Defense” and rural guerilla organization “Mountain Village Operation Unit.”
The Sugо̄ incident also occurred in the same year, where members of the Communist Party were set up by security police and arrested in relation to an explosion at a police station. Five months after the incident, the Communist Party lost all their seats at the next general election. They recovered roughly the same number of seats in the 1970s.
References
https://arsof-history.org/articles/v8n1_mayday_riots_page_1.html
http://www.asaho.com/jpn/bkno/2004/0809.html
