NAGOYA, Sept. 19 (Kyodo) - A group of residents of Nagoya's Naka Ward asked the
ward chief on Wednesday to reject residence applications by members of the AUM
Shinrikyo cult, group members and their supporters said.
They said the group and its supporters delivered petitions from about 3,900
people to Naka Ward chief Motohide Itoyanagi.
Itoyanagi told group representatives, ''Naka Ward, in view of the serious
anxiety of its residents, decided not to accept residence slips from AUM
followers and notified AUM of our decision.''
The Nagoya branch of AUM Shinrikyo has relocated from Nishi Ward to Naka Ward
in the center of Nagoya, which may become the cult's new headquarters in
central Japan.
The branch previously occupied a building in Nishi Ward. It vacated the
building once before in December 1999, but returned in August last year after
promising the landlord it would stop holding religious seminars there.
However, religious activities continued and AUM followers have frequented the
building, according to investigators.
AUM Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara has been indicted on various criminal
charges, including ones related to the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo
subway system that left 12 people dead and injured thousands.
AP-NY-09-19-01 0259EDT
Copyright 2001 The Kyodo News Service.