MITO, Japan, March 4 (Kyodo) - About 1,000 residents attended a rally in the town of Sanwa, Ibaraki Prefecture on Sunday, demanding the AUM Shinrikyo cult leave the town, where it continues to maintain a facility despite the expiry of the land lease at the end of February.
Sanwa Mayor Kijyuro Tateno said at the rally that townspeople should join forces to get the cult to leave their town. He later delivered letters of request to that effect to AUM spokesman Hiroshi Araki and other AUM members.
Araki responded that AUM has apologized for ''past incidents'' and taken remedial steps.
After the rally, about 20 local residents held a meeting with Araki, who angered the townspeople by saying that the cult's apology had not been aimed at seeking the town's ''pardon.''
AUM founder Shoko Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, and numerous followers have been tried on a number of counts, including charges in connection with the March 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway system, which killed 12 people and injured thousands. The group now calls itself Aleph.
AP-NY-03-04-01 0630EST
Copyright 2001 The Kyodo News Service.