Global Courant 2023-04-15 09:42:25
Crowds at the fishing port in western Japan dispersed in panic after an explosion when police on the scene restrained a man.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was evacuated unharmed after an apparent smoke bomb was thrown at him while on a campaign trip in western Japan’s Wakayama Prefecture.
Footage on Japanese television showed a crowd gathering at the fishing port of Saikazaki, where Kishida supported a government party candidate. The video showed an explosion and white smoke just as he was about to speak.
The prime minister took cover as people in the crowd dispersed in panic. Kishida was unharmed and police overpowered a man who appeared to be in his 20s or 30s on the spot, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Saikazaki is located about 65 km southwest of the city of Osaka.
“I was amazed. My heart is still beating fast,” a woman at the scene told NHK.
There was no immediate official confirmation of the incident and local police declined to comment.
Breakig: Someone apparently set off an explosive device (possibly a pipe bomb) at a place in Wakayama where Prime Minister Kishida was about to give a campaign speech. No injuries were reported. pic.twitter.com/BTriLkT0L3
— Jeffrey J. Hall (@mrjeffu) April 15, 2023
The incident comes just nine months after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated last July while campaigning for parliamentary elections, which shocked the nation and led to the resignation of top local and national police chiefs and a tightening of security guidelines for prominent people.
The latest attack also comes as Japan is hosting a series of ministerial meetings of the Group of Seven (G7) this weekend ahead of the May 19-21 summit that Kishida will host in the southern city of Hiroshima.
The prime minister had just finished tasting fish at the venue and was about to make comments in support of the ruling party’s candidate in local polls and by-elections in the lower house scheduled for April 23.
“That something like this happened in the middle of an election campaign that is the basis of democracy is regrettable. It is an unforgivable atrocity,” Hiroshi Moriyama, the chairman of the electoral strategy of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), told NHK.
Abe’s alleged assassin, Tetsuya Yamagami, reportedly attacked him because of his ties to the Unification Church and the incident sparked revelations about the group’s connection to Japanese politicians.
Yamagami has been charged with murder and several other crimes, including violating a gun law.
Abe was relatively unprotected and speaking on a street in western Nara when he was killed.
