The Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, was evacuated today from an electoral act moments before an explosion occurred, which did not injure the president, according to the Japanese authorities, who immediately arrested the person allegedly responsible for launching the explosive device.
The incident took place in the port of the city of Wakayama (west) around 11:30 local time (2:30 GMT), when a strong explosion was recorded and a column of white smoke was observed at the place where the attack was scheduled. Kishida’s campaign speech and in which there were two hundred people gathered to listen to him.
“I saw that something was thrown, but I was able to escape and in that time I could hear the explosion”recounted the prime minister, who also pointed out that despite the incident “he will continue with his electoral acts scheduled for today and tomorrow”, in statements to a senior official of his party collected by the state chain NHK.
“We are going to hold important elections for our country, and we must work together to keep them going.”Kishida said in another campaign speech held this Saturday next to the Wakayama railway station, approximately one hour and ten minutes after the incident, which he also referred to in his speech.
The Japanese authorities arrested a man at the scene of the events as the alleged person responsible for launching the explosive object, which according to eyewitnesses and images captured by the media, it was a metallic cylinder that could be a pipe bomb.
In the images taken by NHK at the scene, you can see how a person who was about 10 meters away throws a metal tube at Kishida’s back, who turns around with his security personnel and they look at the ground before being hastily evacuated.
At the same time, a person from the public pounced on the young man who had thrown the object and two other security personnel soon approached, managing to knock him to the ground while struggling. With the president already evacuated, the device can be heard exploding, while the suspect drops a second metal tube.
IDENTIFIED ATTACKER
The Japanese authorities confirmed that the detainee is a 24-year-old man named Ryuji Kimura, who was also carrying a second explosive device, although his motives are still unknown.
The young man is a resident of the city of Kawanishi, in the Hyogo prefecture, in the west of the country, according to the driver’s license he had with him, since he would have refused to speak to the authorities, according to local media reports.
At the time of arrest, Kimura was carrying a backpack and another metal object, believed to be a second pipe bomb, and is now in custody, although he has refused to testify until his lawyer arrives.
SIMILARITIES TO THE ABE ASSASSIGNMENT
Electoral rallies are usually held in Japan in the middle of the street and with few security measures, due to the low rate of crime and attacks with weapons typical of the Asian country.
However, today’s incident took place after former Japanese president Shinzo Abe died last July after being shot in the back with a homemade firearm, while participating in an electoral act of the same type in the city of Nara.
From the Executive and the ruler Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) The incident on Saturday, which comes before another round of local elections scheduled for next week to elect mayors and members of assemblies, has been condemned.
“It is extremely unfortunate that this happens during the election period, which is the foundation of democracy, and it is an inexcusable act,” said Hiroshi Moriyama, the director of the LDP committee for the election campaign.
In addition, the event occurs the same weekend that Japan hosts two G7 ministerial meetings, Foreign Affairs and Energy and Environment. A summit of leaders of that group of countries is scheduled for the end of next month in the city of Hiroshima.