Emotional shareholder demands Katsumata step down immediately as chair of Tepco meeting, but motion is defeated by a majority show of hands.
Some shareholders calling on Tepco to abandon nuclear power. Anti-nuclear protestors gathering at nearby park. Stiff security all around.
-->Tokyo Electric Power Co. faces its shareholders today for the first time since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami caused meltdowns at its Fukushima Dai- Ichi plant, wiping about $36 billion off its market value.
Anti-nuclear shareholders are encouraged to gather in the park surrounding the Prince Park Tower Hotel, where the meeting is being held, according a protester website. About 30 protestors were near the hotel, holding banners saying "nuclear power sayonara.'' Police officers are stationed on all corners of the five-way Akabanebashi intersection near the hotel.
The catastrophe, the worst nuclear accident in 25 years, displaced 50,000 households after radiation leaked into the air, soil and sea. Today, shareholders in Tepco, as the utility is known, vote on whether the company continues with nuclear power and the future of 17 board members.
Six police buses and other official vehicles surround the venue, located in Shiba Park in the shadows of Tokyo Tower, which is still bent at the tip from the March 11 earthquake that led to the troubles now facing Tepco.
Staff from the utility are stationed on the pavements around the hotel, holding sign with directions to the venue. Journalists almost outnumber the police as they sought interviews with arriving shareholders, in one area being herded by the officials to keep the pavements clear.
Men in suits with "Police" armbands wandered through the crowds and TV trucks parked in the streets around the park, holding up early morning traffic.
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