With a year to go, support slides for pandemic-hit Tokyo Olympics

Police officers are seen during a protest against the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games a year before the start of the summer games that were postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, near National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan July 24, 2020. [REUTERS/Issei Kato]

Several dozen protesters in masks gathered in front of Japan's National Stadium on Friday, the day the Olympic Games should have begun, to protest against holding them next year given the danger of the novel coronavirus.

The Games were postponed in March as the coronavirus swept the world and the government is determined that they go ahead next year.