US base worker held for drink-driving on Japan's Okinawa

24-year-old US air force worker detained on Sunday failed to stop at intersection and collided with a car, say Police

TOKYO: An American base employee on Japan's Okinawa was arrested for suspected drink-driving on Sunday, a week after tens of thousands of angry residents rallied in protest at crimes linked to the heavy US military presence.

US military personnel are still under curfew after a suspected rape and murder by another employee of a military base.

The 24-year-old US air force worker detained Sunday failed to stop at an intersection and collided with a car whose driver was apparently unhurt, a local police spokesperson told AFP.

A breath test indicated the American's alcohol level was four times the legal limit, the spokesperson said.

Anger at the US bases was rekindled last month with the arrest of a former US Marine, who at the time was a base employee, in connection with the death of a 20-year-old woman.



The arrest led to a month-long night-time curfew for US forces stationed on the island. But earlier this month a US sailor was arrested on Okinawa for an alleged drink-driving incident in which two people were injured.

Some 65,000 people, according to organisers, rallied on June 19 in protest at crimes and accidents linked to US soldiers and base workers.

The US forces on Okinawa have extended the curfew by four days until Tuesday, calling for "all fifty-thousand Americans on Okinawa, especially our young servicemen and women" to be "law-abiding members of our local communities", according to a statement last week.

Okinawa hosts about 26,000 US service personnel, more than half the total Washington keeps in all of Japan, in addition to base workers and family members, under a decades-old security alliance.

A series of crimes including rapes, assaults and hit-and-run accidents by US military personnel, dependants and civilians has long sparked protests on the crowded island.