Around two dozen demonstrators marched in Tokyo on Saturday to protest against the upcoming Olympic Games less than a week before its opening.
The group was intending to deliver petitions to IOC President Thomas Bach calling for the cancellation of the games and approached the location where the organization's Executive Board Committee was being held.
Minor scuffles broke out after the police stopped the protestors along their march around 20 meters away from the venue.
The Olympics, already delayed by 12 months because of the pandemic, will be held with virtually no fans. Fans from abroad were banned several months ago, and last week Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures banned all local fans.
A few outlying venues are expected to allow a smattering of fans.
New COVID-19 cases on Friday in Tokyo were reported at 1,271. They were 822 a week ago, and it marks the 27th straight day that cases were higher than a week previous. New cases on Thursday were reported at 1,308, which was the highest in six months.
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