CLAIR riot police clash with protesters in Koriyama last Wednesday.

Koriyama was rocked on Wednesday by a fresh round of demonstrations as the Independent uprising enters it's third month. Demonstrators shouting anti-JET slogans trashed bikes and broke school windows during clashes with CLAIR riot police outside the Koriyama Girls High School until tear gas assaults finally dispersed the mob. The incident is said to have started after rumors spread of an alleged assassination attempt on James, the reclusive and mysterious head of the James English School, a stronghold of Independent hard-liners.

CLAIR spokesman Ogawa-san adamantly denied sponsoring any attempt on James' life, saying that assassinations were "Independent tactics" that CLAIR would not stoop to. CLAIR has blamed James for assaults on all the major junior high- and high schools across Fukushima prefecture. Just last week, security forces at a Fukushima City public high school arrested an Aeon extremist who entered the school grounds with 30 kilos of English textbooks strapped her chest. "All we ask is that James take responsibility and crack down on militants and guerilla teachers in his organization. The Jyuku fundamentalists are out of control, and we know that James is behind it," Ogawa said.

Adam Wist, a spokesman from James, reacted angrily to the accusations. "First of all, there is no 'James' you idiots. That's just the name of the school. Second, CLAIR holds the key to stopping this conflict. They have invaded our schools and imposed unfair restrictions on which schools we can enter to get students. And what's worse, they've taken over all the good gaijin bars. A decent, hardworking Independent can't even get laid anymore because of JET occupation."

A number of outside organizations have stepped in to try to negotiate some kind of peace between the two teaching factions, but so far none has succeeded. Most talks have stalled over CLAIR's extended occupation of Ekaiwa territory and their refusal of a separate Jyuku state within the prefecture.

Hope for a peace deal was revived last week with the end of a two-week standoff between CLAIR forces and an Independent teaching cell that barricaded itself into Aizuwakamatsu's Tsurugajyo Castle. The siege finally ended when the Independent militants ran out of toner for the photocopier. But hope was short-lived, and new conflicts were quick to erupt.