Before G7 summit
Smoke bomb explodes during campaign appearance: Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida brought to safety
Security forces detain a man who allegedly threw a smoke bomb at Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s campaign appearance.
© Kyodo News/AP/DPA
A smoke bomb explodes during an election campaign by Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Kishida remains unharmed, but memories of the assassination attempt on Kishida’s predecessor, Shinzo Abe, come to life.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been brought to safety unharmed after a suspected smoke bomb exploded at a campaign event. Police arrested a 24-year-old Japanese man at the scene of a fishing port in the western city of Wakayama, local media reported on Saturday. There, Kishida wanted to give a speech in support of a candidate from his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in local elections. In July last year, Kishida’s predecessor, Shinzo Abe, was shot dead on the street during a campaign speech in the old imperial city of Nara. The assassination attempt on the prime minister triggered global outrage.
Japan: Smoke bomb thrown out of crowd
The suspected smoke bomb was thrown out of a crowd of several hundred people on Saturday, Japanese media reported. A loud explosion could be heard on TV recordings, screaming people tried to run away, white smoke was in the air. Eyewitnesses said the explosion happened seconds after the suspect had been wrestled to the ground. No one was injured, it said. Kishida was immediately taken to safety in a car and later continued his campaign tour elsewhere. The motive of the perpetrator was initially unknown.
Japan, which is considered one of the safest countries in the world and has extremely strict gun laws, has heightened security measures. Because this Sunday, the foreign ministers of the group of G7 countries are traveling to a meeting in Nagano Prefecture. Kishida himself will host the G7 summit in his hometown of Hiroshima on May 19-21.