Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been evacuated unharmed from a public event after what appeared to be a smoke bomb was thrown at him.
OsunDaily News reports that this incident comes months after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead while on the campaign trail last year.
The Japanese security authorities have arrested and detained a person at the scene in Wakayama, where Kishida had been due to give a speech, local media reported Saturday.
In a chat with the BCC, an eyewitness said he saw a person throwing something, followed by smoke, while another witness said he heard a big bang.
Japan’s public broadcaster NHK showed a video of officers piling on top of a person, believed to be a suspect, and another footage in which crowds of people appear to be running away from the scene.
The news outlet reported that the person detained was arrested on suspicion of obstruction of business.
Kishida had just started to deliver a speech after touring the fishing harbour in Wakayama for a campaign event when the object was thrown and he took cover. Local media reports say he will continue his planned schedule for the rest of the day.
A woman at the scene told NHK: “I was stunned. My heart is still beating fast.”
A person who said they saw an object flying through the air said it gave them a “bad feeling, so we ran away unbelievably fast”.
“Then we heard a really loud noise. It made my daughter cry,” he added.
Another witness told NHK that the crowd began to disperse in panic before the blast was heard, as someone said an explosive had been thrown.
Hiroshi Moriyama, a member of Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party, said: “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.”
