About 30,000 people gathered on the Japanese island of Okinawa on Sunday to demand the closure of a US base in the biggest protest against the US military in the area since 1995, Kyodo news agency reported.
The protesters also demanded an apology and compensation for the crash of a US helicopter on a university campus last month.
Three crew were injured but no one on the ground was hurt when the CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter from the Futemma Air Station crashed at Okinawa International University in the city of Ginowan.
Sunday's protest was the biggest against US forces by Okinawa residents since 85,000 gathered in 1995 to protest the rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen, Kyodo said.
"We must have the government begin negotiations to suspend the heliport functions (at Futemma) right now and to have the base shut down and returned," Ginowan Mayor Yoichi Iha said at the gathering at the university campus.
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