TOKYO, Sept. 19 -- Over 10,000 people rallied here on Tuesday to protest against the controversial security laws that were enacted by the parliament two years ago and the government's attempts to revise the pacifist Constitution.
The protesters gathered in front of parliament buildings Tuesday night, holding banners written with slogans such as "Scrap the new security laws and the conspiracy laws" and "Abe shall step down."
Kazuo Shii, head of the Japanese Communist Party, said that the new security laws enacted two years ago could drag Japan into a dangerous place and shall be scrapped.
He also criticized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's possible decision to dissolve the lower house of parliament and call a snap general election, saying that the prime minister's move was aimed at fleeing from accusations.
Mizuho Fukushima, deputy head of the Social Democratic Party, said that the Abe administration, having forcibly enacted the security laws, is now trying to revise the pacifist Constitution.
"Such moves are a mockery of Article 9 of our Constitution and are absolutely unforgivable," she said.
Hirokazu Tozaki, a citizen in Tokyo, called for the new security laws to be scrapped "as soon as possible."
He also criticized Abe for failing to give sufficient explanations to the public for the influence-peddling scandals that the prime minister was implicated in, saying that he "felt ashamed" for having a prime minister fleeing from scandals.
The Japanese government forcibly enacted the controversial security laws on Sept. 19, 2017, which marked a significant overturn of Japan's "purely defensive" defense posture and caused widespread concerns and criticism at home and abroad.
Abe reiterated his intention to revise the pacifist Constitution in May this year on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Constitution coming into force, saying that he hopes to see a revised Constitution go into effect in 2020.