ALBAWABA - A smoke bomb prompted the cancellation of a scheduled outdoor speech by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at a fishing port in the city of Wakayama Saturday.
Kishida was unhurt after a man threw a cylindrical object which exploded ahead of the stump speech he was due to make during his visit to western Japan on Saturday, less than a year after a former premier was fatally shot during election campaigning, Japan's Kyodo News reported.
Japan PM Fumio Kishida evacuated after what appears to be smoke bomb thrown https://t.co/cZwqm7F1eO
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 15, 2023
Kishida was whished away by car right after the incident, which took place as he was talking with a candidate of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party just before his scheduled speech.
Kyodo News quoted investigative sources as saying that Ryuji Kimura, a 24-year-old man from Hyogo Prefecture, was arrested at the scene.
A man has been arrested after throwing an apparent smoke or pipe bomb at Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who’s been evacuated unharmed.
The incident comes less than a year after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.pic.twitter.com/7HC2sNUy7D— Michael P Senger (@michaelpsenger) April 15, 2023
In a stump speech elsewhere in the city, Kishida vowed that the incident should not disrupt the electoral process. "Together with you all, we have to carry on with the election," he said.
Video footage released by Japan’s public broadcaster NHK News showed members of the public fleeing and a man being arrested following the explosion. The footage showed multiple men, believed to be police officers, holding the suspect on the ground. Other pictures showed a silver cylinder that appeared to have been thrown in Kishida’s direction.
Breaking: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was unhurt after a smoke bomb was thrown at him before he was set to make a speech in Wakayama prefecture, according to national broadcaster NHK. #FumioKishida #Japan pic.twitter.com/sHcGnTeGCO
— Aric Chen 陳曉天 (@aricchen) April 15, 2023
CNN said the circumstances surrounding the suspected attack drew immediate comparisons to the assassination of the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot in July last year during a campaign speech in the western city of Nara.
The attack on Abe had shocked a nation that is rarely associated with political and gun violence.
Currently, campaigning is underway in Japan’s nationwide local elections.
