TOKYO (AP) — Japan's parliament braced Thursday for another battle of wills after opposition lawmakers used delaying tactics to block an upper house committee from meeting to approve bills that would expand the role of the country's military.

As thousands of opponents rallied outside Wednesday night, a determined Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his defense and foreign ministers sat in the ornate committee room until well after midnight, long after the 6:30 p.m. meeting was to have started.

They were back in their seats Thursday morning as opposition lawmakers, standing around the committee chairman at his seat, berated him and refused to back down after he unilaterally declared the meeting open.

The bills would allow the military to defend Japan's allies even when the country isn't under attack, work more closely with the U.S. and other allies, and do more in international peacekeeping.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says Japan needs the bills to bolster its defense amid China's growing assertiveness and to share the global peacekeeping effort. Opponents say the legislation violates Japan's war-renouncing constitution, while putting Japan at risk of being embroiled in U.S.-led wars.

Opposition lawmakers prevented colleagues from entering an upper house committee chamber Wednesday evening. They filled the hallway outside the room, blocking the chairman and holding up a preliminary question-and-answer session.

The ruling party's hopes that final approval by the full upper house would take place later Thursday look increasingly difficult as the opposition plans to propose a series of no-confidence votes against Abe's Cabinet and its key members — a process likely to take more than half a day — before a house vote can take place.

In a steady rain, a smaller group of protesters continued to rally outside parliament Thursday morning, after the bigger demonstration the previous night.

The protesters shouted "Scrap the bills right now" and "No to war bills," while flashing placards with anti-Abe and anti-war messages.

While the bills were being debated in parliament, new faces were joining the ranks of protesters typically made up of labor union members and graying left-wing activists.

Over the past few months, a group of students has led the protests, which have steadily grown to tens of thousands who fill the streets outside parliament every Friday and often on weekends.

"Anyone who understands the basic principle of the constitution cannot help but oppose the legislation," Aki Okuda, a leader of the group Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracies, told reporters. "It's ridiculous, and the bills' legal questions have fueled the people's anger."

Okuda was invited to speak at a parliamentary hearing Tuesday, when he urged lawmakers "to listen to the people's voices," and "not make us think it's absurd to take politics seriously."

The bills, passed by the more powerful lower house in July, have since been debated in the upper house. Abe's ruling party wants to have them approved by Friday to avoid a swelling of protests during the upcoming five-day weekend. Abe also promised the U.S. that the bills would pass in parliament by this summer.

The forced voting process in the lower house has fueled the protests, while media surveys have consistently showed the majority of respondents oppose the legislation. One released Monday by the liberal-leaning Asahi newspaper showed 54 percent of the respondents opposed the bills, compared to 29 percent supporting them.

Katsuya Okada, head of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said it was "outrageous" for Abe's ruling block to rush a vote on legislation that has split the nation. "We must join our forces and block their ploy," he said.

Despite the delay in the start of the committee meeting on Wednesday, the bills are likely to be passed eventually because Abe's ruling bloc has a majority in the upper house.