On Saturday, April 15, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida survived an assassination attempt after an explosion occurred at a place where he was giving an outdoor speech, glamsquad reports
According to Kyodo news, a man was apprehended after throwing “what appeared to be a smoke bomb.”
Following the explosion, video footage released by Japan’s national broadcaster NHK showed members of the public fleeing and a man being apprehended.
Multiple police officers were seen detaining the suspect on the ground in the video. Other images showed a silver cylinder being hurled in the direction of Kishida.
The dramatic scenes took occurred in Wakayama, immediately after Kishida visited the local Saikazaki Fishing Port.
The circumstances surrounding the suspected attack drew instant parallels to the killing of Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot during a campaign address in the western city of Nara in July last year.
Japan’s longest-serving prime leader, Shinzo Abe, was assassinated while delivering a campaign address to a small gathering outside a railway station.
The assassination of Abe stunned Japan, a country with a low crime rate and an Asian nation not commonly linked with political and gun violence.
Kishida, too, had been giving a political speech, this time in support of his ruling party’s candidate in a Wakayama district House of Representatives by-election.
A city council member on the site told NHK that a “cylindrical silver object” had flown “about two metres in front of me” before the explosion.
Another eyewitness saw “a silver cylinder,” which “was thrown and then shone a bit before a big sound was heard.”
NHK footage showed a young man wearing glasses, a mask, and a grey knapsack standing among the crowd assembled to hear Kishida’s address.
According to NHK, the man can be seen carrying a silver cylinder and making hand movements as if he is attempting to light it before being captured.
Later that day, Japanese officials claimed Kishida was safe and unhurt.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was apparently targeted as a man threw an explosive device at a campaign event in a western port city, officials said. Police wrestled a suspect to the ground as screaming bystanders scrambled to get away and smoke filled the air. pic.twitter.com/IYT4eeQXrE
— RT (@RT_com) April 15, 2023
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was evacuated unhurt after a suspect threw what appeared to be a smoke bomb at an outdoor speech in western Japan https://t.co/q7U9WXf0mR pic.twitter.com/aqLUUptkio
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 15, 2023