Tension is rising between the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and homeless people around JR Shinjuku Station over the city's plan to evict them.
Over the weekend, metropolitan officials, backed by 350 police officers and security guards, handed an "ultimatum" to about 200 residents of "cardboard houses" along an underground passageway situated at the west side of the station.
The metropolitan government plans to install a moving walkway there, but to do so, it will have to transfer the homeless people to a temporary housing facility.
"This is not a place to sleep; it's for pedestrians," a metropolitan official told the residents with a bullhorn Saturday night. "The metropolitan government will remove the cardboard boxes in late January. Please understand."
As water cannons stood by, about 40 metropolitan security guards and police officers, watched by 50 bystanders, surrounded the homeless and their supporters, who engaged in a scuffle. Three people were arrested for obstructing the police.
While the confrontation continued, metropolitan officials passed out eviction notices together with an application form for temporary housing, but many of the homeless continued to raise angry complaints until late Saturday.
"People are here because they have nowhere else to go," said a 51-year-old Shinjuku homeless man from Niigata Prefecture. "The temporary facility will close in two months; where do we go after that?"
One of the reasons city hall took the tough action appears to be its failure to officially notify the passageway residents of their eviction in December, when they put up a strong protest and refused to accept the notification.
The scuffle comes just one day after civic groups urged the national government to pressure the metropolitan authority into abandoning the eviction plan, which they argued violated a United Nations human rights committee resolution.
Twenty-five people, including some from seven civic groups, a Diet member and university professor, supported the complaint submitted to the Management and Coordination Agency. the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office.
Nine of them visited the MCA office to submit a letter of complaint addressed to Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.
"The Japanese government has approved a United Nations human rights commission resolution that says forcible eviction of homeless people is a human rights violation," the letter reads. "The national government bears moral responsibility to demand that the metropolitan government abandon its plan to construct the moving walkway, which is to be built using taxpayer's money."
According to members of the civic group, the Foreign Ministry responded that, the resolution should be respected. However, the foreign office said the nation "is in no position" to judge the matter, which falls under the jurisdiction of the local government.
Koji Sugihara, a supporter who took part in the protest action Friday, said, "The authorities are forcing homeless quake victims out of their present housing. The national government can be said to be supporting the forcible eviction by standing on the sidelines and doing nothing."
At a press conference later that day, Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima said he had no intention of removing the homeless people by force.
"I've asked the officials in charge to proceed without causing any trouble," Aoshima said.
When asked about his stance on police intervention, Aoshima said, "I hope that will not happen."
He added that the metropolitan government plans to help the homeless return to society.
The passageway where the homeless live runs from the west exit of Shinjuku Station toward the city hall buildings. The metropolitan government plans to construct a 300-meter moving walkway there.
The housing facility to which the metropolitan government plans to move the roadside residents is a former bus depot surrounded by canals near the east exit of JR Shinagawa Station. The facility has toilets and baths. Meals, medical treatment and job placement services are also available there, according to metropolitan officials.