World

Japan PM Kishida evacuated unhurt after explosion at speech- media

2023.04.15 00:39

5/5

© Reuters. A man, believed to be a suspect who threw a pipe-like object near Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his outdoor speech, is held by police officers at Saikazaki fishing port in Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture, south-western Japan April 15, 2023, i

2/5

TOKYO (Reuters) -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 on Saturday, domestic media reported.

A loud explosion was heard, but the premier took cover and was unharmed while police subdued a man at the scene, public broadcaster NHK said.

The incident occurred at the Saikazaki fishing harbour in Wakayama prefecture, some 65 km (40 miles) southwest of Osaka city.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving leader of modern Japan, was assassinated with a homemade gun last July while campaigning for a parliamentary election, shocking the nation and prompting a review of security for politicians, who routinely press the flesh with the public.

Kishida had just started to deliver the speech after touring the harbour when Saturday’s incident occurred, NHK said. The speech was scheduled for 11:40 a.m. (0240 GMT), according to Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Kishida was to continue his Saturday afternoon campaign schedule after the incident, the LDP confirmed via its Twitter account.

NHK footage showed crowds running away as several police officers appeared to pin a man to the ground before removing him from the scene. The man appeared to be in his 20s or 30s, media said.

A representative of Wakayama’s prefectural police headquarters told Reuters he could not answer questions about the incident.

A woman on the scene told NHK that she saw an object flying overhead and “it gave me a bad feeling, so we ran away unbelievably fast. Then we heard a really loud noise. It made my daughter cry.”

Kishida is to host a Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima next month. G7 foreign ministers are to meet on Sunday in the resort city of Karuizawa.

Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 97,753.19 0.07%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,360.71 1.01%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.03%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 253.17 0.60%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 660.07 1.16%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.43 2.72%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.428443 0.52%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999708 0.01%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.02 4.13%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,362.87 0.80%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.208957 1.40%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 41.99 1.13%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.529766 3.08%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.14 3.13%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000026 1.03%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,955.70 1.89%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 97,432.10 0.04%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 8.81 3.83%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 18.00 3.53%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 513.62 0.91%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,357.79 1.23%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.40 1.52%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.00002 1.70%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.90 11.38%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.55 0.82%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 96.91 2.50%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 12.43 2.56%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.89 1.51%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,537.11 1.24%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.146875 4.91%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.65 2.38%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 0.998207 0.13%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.191518 6.49%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.571448 0.60%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 28.76 2.77%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 8.00 4.38%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.52 6.91%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 524.97 0.77%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.05%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.152821 0.23%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000048 0.08%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.044112 4.54%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.861306 0.53%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.32 1.70%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999877 0.03%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.71 5.64%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 8.74 6.16%
celestia
Celestia (TIA) $ 7.91 10.38%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.63 0.95%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 53.86 5.27%