Tokyo, 16 April, /<a href=”https://en.ajmedia.jp/”>AJMEDIA</a>/
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday denounced an attack the previous day in which an explosive device was thrown at him just before he was supposed to make a stump speech in the western Japan city of Wakayama.
“A violent act taking place during elections, the bedrock of democracy, can never be tolerated,” Kishida told reporters at his official residence, a day after a man cast the cylindrical object that exploded and let out white smoke near the premier.
Kishida also called for stepped-up security measures during campaigning for lower and upper house by-elections slated for next Sunday ahead of the Group of Seven summit that Japan will host in Hiroshima in May.
The attack on Kishida came less than a year after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot last July during a stump speech in the city of Nara before the House of Councillors election, an incident that led the National Police Agency to bolster its VIP security.
Kishida, who was due to make a speech at a fishing port in Wakayama, was unhurt after the man threw the cylindrical-shaped explosive device at around 11:25 a.m. Saturday from among a crowd of about 200 people, sending them fleeing in panic.
The man was about 10 meters away from Kishida when he threw the object, police said. A local police officer sustained a minor injury following the explosion.
Ryuji Kimura, a 24-year-old man from Hyogo Prefecture, was arrested at the scene. He has refused to answer police questions in the absence of a lawyer.
Kimura was subdued by a 54-year-old man immediately after the device was thrown. The local fisherman told Kyodo News on Sunday that he jumped on Kimura “instinctively” as the suspect was “still doing something with his hands” after casting the object.
On Sunday, police searched Kimura’s home. According to investigative sources, the suspect brought two objects with him believed to be explosive devices, including the one used in the attack, which may have been a handmade pipe bomb.
Kimura was also found to have brought a knife, tucked inside his backpack, the sources said, causing the police to suspect he may have intended to carry out his attack differently depending on the situation.
