Japanese protesters from various civic groups urged the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company to halt the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water during a rally in front of TEPCO headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday.

Earlier this week, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's administration gave the green light to TEPCO, the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, to release nuclear-contaminated water from the plant into the Pacific Ocean starting Thursday.

Protesters said the Kishida administration ignored the voices of Fukushima prefectural residents as well as those of citizens from countries connected to the sea.

Video by Jiang Xueqing in Tokyo