The land reclamation work on Henoko Bay came as police dragged away opponents of the plan who were seeking to block access to the area.
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Workers used heavy machinery to lay gravel at the proposed site of a storage yard for construction materials.
The Japanese government has resumed the construction of a USA military base in Okinawa on Thursday, having cancelled the regional government’s veto on its relocation just days earlier, local media reported.
Protests backing the stand taken by Okinawa have drawn tens of thousands of people, and perceptions of bullying by the government could dent support ratings for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of an election next year.
The wrangling with local authorities over the issue has been intensifying since Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga on October 13 revoked the approval granted by his predecessor to the central government in 2013 regarding landfill work for the project.
Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine joined protesters near the site shouting their opposition to the relocation, while Onaga pledged to continue fighting the central government’s plan, telling reporters, “Despotic governance (by the central government) is at its height”.
One elderly woman with a cane yelled “Put me down!” as she was hauled off in a chair. “Aren’t you supposed to be protecting citizens?”
“Okinawa doesn’t belong to the United States or the central government”, a visibly angry Hiroshi Ashitomi, 69, told the Jiji Press news agency.
Tokyo reiterated that it intends to stick to the agreement.
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The Japanese government has overturned a move by Okinawa’s governor to stop work on a new USA base.
