Protesters marched in Okinawa on Friday calling for the scrapping of a controversial plan to build new U.S. military facilities on the prefecture's main island, ahead of the 45th anniversary of its reversion to Japan from U.S. military rule.

Around 800 participants started the three-day "Peace March" from Naha, the capital of the southernmost prefecture.

In a ceremony to mark the start of the march, Naha Mayor Mikiko Shiroma said, "I feel strong anger about the fact that incidents and accidents related to the military bases happen one after another."

"I always feel irritated that I can do nothing about the base issue," said Mariko Fujimoto, a protestor who joined the march from the western Japan city of Wakayama. "I want to support even just a little bit."

The annual protest was first held in 1977 to rail against the situation that sees Okinawa shoulder a heavy burden in hosting U.S. military bases, even after the island prefecture was returned to Japanese control in 1972, according to organizers.

Okinawa Prefecture comprises only 0.6 percent of Japan's total land mass, but hosts around 70 percent of U.S. military facilities in the country.

As part of the event, a protest rally will be held Sunday on the beach near Henoko, in the main island's northeast. New facilities will be constructed in the Henoko area as part of the relocation of the U.S. Marines' Air Station Futenma from the city of Ginowan.

Japan and the United States agreed in 1996 to relocate the Futenma air station on the island, but the process has been delayed due to strong objections from locals.

Japan began land reclamation works to construct runways in Henoko on April 25, but Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga has voiced strong opposition to the relocation plan, reflecting the safety and other concerns of his constituents.