Roving Periscope: Japanese PM Kishida unhurt, survives blast at a poll campaign
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Less than a year after former Prime Minister Shinjo Abe’s assassination during an election campaign, incumbent Japanese PM Fumio Kishida survived a blast during his rally as police promptly caught the attacker, the media reported on Saturday.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving PM for nine years, died in July 2022. His death traumatized Japan for months and forced a security shake-up for public officials.
Kishida was evacuated unharmed from the scene of a campaign speech on Saturday after a blast sounded and white smoke filled the air. He was in the western city of Wakayama to support a ruling party candidate and had just finished sampling fish at a port when a disturbance rippled through the crowd that had gathered to hear him speak.
Footage from national broadcaster NHK showed the PM turning to look backward as a person was detained by security and people moved away amid shrieks. Seconds later, a blast was heard and white smoke filled the air.
NHK said a man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of obstruction of business.
There was no immediate official confirmation of the incident, with local police declining to comment.
Reports said Kishida was unharmed and could still appear at campaign events scheduled for later in the day.
“That something like this happened in the middle of an election campaign that constitutes the foundation of democracy is regrettable. It’s an unforgivable atrocity,” Hiroshi Moriyama, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s election strategy chairman, told NHK.
Security at local campaign events in Japan can be relatively relaxed, in a country with little violent crime and strict gun laws.
But the country bolstered security around politicians after the assassination of Abe, who was shot dead while speaking at a campaign event in July 2022.
His alleged assassin, Tetsuya Yamagami, reportedly targeted him over his links to the Unification Church. The shooter was reportedly angry at the sect over large donations his mother made to the group that left the family bankrupt.
The incident sparked revelations about the connection between the sect and political figures in Japan.
The head of Japan’s National Police Agency resigned after Abe’s assassination as an investigation confirmed “shortcomings” in the security for the former leader. The probe questioned the system of local police being made responsible for the security of visiting senior officials and found that areas south of Abe’s podium were not properly guarded, leaving an open route for the shooter to approach.
The fresh incident came ahead of the meetings of the Group of Seven Climate and Energy Ministers in the northern city of Sapporo, and a day before G-7 Foreign Ministers arrive in Karuizawa in Nagano for talks.
Japan will host the G-7 leaders’ summit in May in Hiroshima.
