Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was evacuated Saturday after an individual threw an explosive device near him while he was campaigning at a fishing port in western Japan.
Kishida was unharmed and police got the suspect to the ground while screaming witnesses scrambled to get away and smoke filled the air.
According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, a man who was believed to be a suspect was arrested Saturday at the scene after he allegedly threw “the suspicious object.”
From Newsmax:
Although no one was hurt, and Kishida continued campaigning Saturday, the chaotic scene was reminiscent of the assassination nine months ago of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which also came on a campaign tour and continues to reverberate in Japanese politics. Kishida was visiting Saikazaki port in Wakayama prefecture to support his ruling party’s candidate in a local election, and the explosion occurred just before he was to begin his speech. TV footage shows Kishida standing with his back to the crowd. His security detail suddenly points to the ground near him, and the prime minister whips around, looking alarmed. The camera quickly turns to the crowd just as several people, including uniformed and plainclothes police officers, converge on a young man wearing a white surgical mask and holding what appears to be another device, a long silver tube. As they collapse on top of the man, working to remove the tube from his hands, a large explosion is heard near where Kishida had been standing. The crowd scatters in panic as police roughly drag the man away. It wasn’t immediately clear what the explosive device was or how many the suspect had, but some reports said it was a smoke or pipe bomb, possibly with a delayed fuse.
