White-garment cult group moves out of Gifu forest road

Kyodo (Japan), May 2, 2003
http://home.kyodo.co.jp/

After more than three hours of confrontation with the police, a group of about 40 white-garment cult members cleared out of a forest road in Gifu Prefecture on Thursday, moving slowly on a caravan of white wagon cars.

The group, which has been roaming around Tottori, Hyogo, Kyoto, Fukui, Shiga and Gifu recently, has been under police surveillance as authorities have expressed concern about their cult-like activities.

Members of the group, known officially as Pana Wave Laboratory, had been staying on a forest road on the borders of Hachiman and Yamato townships since Sunday, living on tents erected on roadside.

Their activity, which has attracted hordes of curious onlookers and media, has created huge traffic jams and drawn concern among police authorities.

Charging the group of violating traffic laws, the police ordered the group members to move out of the forest road Thursday afternoon.

Members of the group initially ignored the police order but, after police officers issued warnings of arrest, they cleared up personal belongings from the roadside tents, loaded them to about 15 cars and vans and started leaving the area at around 6:50 p.m.

”Go away,” some onlookers shouted, as the Pana Wave group drove off slowly, moving at about 5 kilometers an hour toward Takayama, Gifu.

The mayors of Hachiman and Yamato asked the group on Wednesday to leave the area, accusing Pana Wave members of causing trouble for local residents by occupying the road and restricting traffic.

On Thursday, acting from orders from the National Police Agency (NPA), Gifu police sent 300 police officers to the scene and ordered the group to leave for allegedly violating the Road Traffic Law.

Pana Wave members wear white from head to toe, claiming the outfits protect them from electromagnetic waves.

”Their attire and behavior are odd and there is great unease among local residents,” NPA chief Hidehiko Sato said at a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.

”It is similar to the initial stage of AUM Shinrikyo,” he said, referring to the cult blamed for the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995 that killed 12 people and injured thousands.

Earlier in the day, the NPA ordered local police authorities across Japan to crack down on illegal acts and strengthen information collection on the cult.

Sato said the police will apply all applicable laws to address any illegal acts.

According to the NPA, Pana Wave was established around 1977 and has some 1,200 members nationwide. The leader of the group is a 69-year-old woman.

Pana Wave, which is not recognized as a religious group, claims the world will end in the near future.

The group has facilities in Yamanashi and Fukui and began moving about in mountain and forest areas across the country in April 1994, saying they are protecting their leader from electromagnetic waves.

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