Dozens of people dressed
completely in white and suspected of belonging to a New Age cult blocked a road
in rural Japan with a caravan of all-white vehicles in defiance of authorities
on Tuesday.
The standoff has become the focus of concern throughout Japan over the past
several days.
Media have flocked to the remote, forested site in mountainous central Gifu
prefecture.
The group began camping along the sparsely travelled two-lane road on Friday,
draping trees, foliage and guardrails with white cloth it claims neutralises
the effect of harmful electromagnetic waves.
Officials asked the 15-vehicle caravan to pull out the next day but were told
that a sick person who could not be moved was being treated.
The two sides met again on Tuesday and agreed that the group, which calls
itself Panaweb, would leave in four days' time and stop obstructing traffic
immediately.
The mysterious caravan came to Gifu after spending eight months camping along a
lake in the neighbouring prefecture of Fukui. That site was also left swathed
in white sheets.
Group spokesman Mitsumoto Kikuchi described Panaweb as a "research
institution" and said its 30 members were testing the sheets as shields
against electromagnetic waves allegedly being used against them as a weapon by
"left-wing elements".
The media has reported the group is composed of followers of a woman who claims
to be a messiah and preaches a mixture of New Age and Christian thought.
Kikuchi said Panaweb was "helping" the woman, 69-year-old Yuko Chino.
There have been no reports of damage or injuries caused by the group, although
they have scuffled with reporters at the scene.
Japan was shocked several years ago when a doomsday cult released nerve gas on
the Tokyo subway in an unprecedented act of urban terrorism.
The guru of the Aum Shinrikyo sect is now on trial for alleged involvement in
26 deaths.