An explosion near Japan’s Wakayama port forced Japan’s prime minister to retreat from the site as he prepared to begin a speech, with authorities making an arrest.
Fumio Kishida was about to speak at a harbor in the city of Wakayama, south of Osaka, when a loud explosion was heard.
The explosion occurred around 11:30 am (3:50 am in Lisbon) and authorities arrested one person, according to local media.
Several media outlets, including the Kyodo news agency, reported that an object resembling a “smoke bomb” had been thrown, but there were no reports of injuries or visible damage at the scene.
Television images showed people running, then the sound of an explosion, followed by white smoke.
One person was detained on the spot at the fishing port of Saikazaki, Wakayama, where Kishida was due to give an election speech, public broadcaster NHK said.
NHK broadcast footage showing a man on the ground being held and removed as the crowd dispersed. The man was arrested.
“I was in shock. My heart is still beating,” one woman told NHK.
Another person told the television station that panic broke out in the crowd just before the explosion, after someone said they saw an explosive being thrown.
Kishida had just tasted fish there and was about to address the crowd in an initiative to support a candidate from his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the next lower house elections.
“It is regrettable that such an incident happened in the middle of an election campaign, which is the basis of democracy. This is an unforgivable atrocity,” Hiroshi Moriyama, LDP’s chief electoral strategy, told NHK.
Japan has tightened security measures following the July assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead while speaking during an election campaign.
The incident comes as Japan hosts G7 ministerial meetings in the north and center of the country this weekend, while the G7 leaders’ summit will be held in Hiroshima in May.
Source: DN
