Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, was attacked while giving a speech in the Japanese city of Wakayama when a smoke bomb was thrown at him. The prime minister was reportedly successfully evacuated, and the perpetrator was apprehended. When they heard the explosion, the officers reacted quickly to the situation and took PM Kishida safely away from the scene.
Police officials are holding a man at Saikazaki Fishing Port in Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture, southwest Japan, on April 15, 2024. The man is thought to be the suspect who threw a pipe-like object close to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his outdoor speech. Photograph:(Reuters)
A man reportedly threw what seemed to be a smoke bomb towards Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday when he was delivering a speech at a campaign event in western Japan, according to the Japanese news agency Kyodo News.
At the time of the event, Kishida was standing next to a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The location was secured, and the Japanese prime minister was taken out safely.
The attack took place during official campaigning for a lower house by-election in the Wakayama No. 1 district, and the attacker was detained by police right away.
Videos posted to social media and broadcast on television showed police surrounding a person they thought was a suspect, pinning him down, and then dragging him away.
According to Kyodo News, Kishida’s address has been cancelled. Kishida later started campaigning again, though.
“A powerful blast sound was heard in the prior speech location. I sorry for disturbing so many people and causing them problems, but the police are looking into the specifics, Kishida reportedly stated, according to NHK. We must cooperate and carry out the results of an election that is crucial to our nation, he continued.
At a campaign event, Kishida claimed to have witnessed an object being hurled towards him; he quickly ran away before it exploded. In a telephone discussion with a senior Liberal Democratic Party official, he also claimed that he had adequate time to leave the campaign location after seeing the object that had been hurled at him, according to NHK.
He continued by saying that he would hold his scheduled campaign rallies on Saturday and Sunday.
Social media video depicts a man being restrained by numerous people who appear to be police officers at the scene. As seen in the video, those who had congregated at the scene of the event began to run for cover.
According to the NHK media outlet, Kishida had just started his address after touring the Wakayama fishing dock. On social media, a lot of video from the incident has been uploaded. The incident occurs before the Group of Seven (G7) leaders’ summit that Kishida is slated to hold in Hiroshima the following month.
The Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot in July 2017 while giving a speech in support of candidates for the upper house.
(This is a developing story)
