Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was evacuated Saturday from a venue where he was giving an outdoor speech after an “explosion-like sound” at the scene.
Video footage released by Japan’s public broadcaster NHK showed members of the public fleeing and a man being arrested following the incident.
The footage showed multiple men, believed to be police officers, holding the suspect on the ground. Other pictures showed a silver cylinder that appeared to have been thrown in Kishida’s direction.
On July 8, 2022, Shinzo Abe, the former Prime Minister of Japan and a serving member of the House of Representatives, was assassinated while making a campaign speech outside a train station in Nara in Western Japan.
Local news agency Kyodo news reported that a man had been arrested after throwing “what appeared to be a smoke bomb.”
The dramatic scenes took place in the city of Wakayama, where Kishida was giving a speech following his inspection of Saikazaki Fishing Port. The speech was part of the prime minister’s support for an upcoming by-election for the House of Representatives in a Wakayama district. Campaigning is currently underway in Japan’s nationwide local elections.
A city council member who was at the scene told NHK that a “cylindrical silver object” had flown “about two meters in front of me” shortly before the explosion was heard.
A cylinder-shaped object, believed to have been thrown while Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was giving a speech in Wakayama on April 15, 2023. Stringer/JIJI Press/AFP/Getty Images
Another eyewitness also reported seeing “a silver cylinder,” saying it “was thrown and then shone a bit before a big sound was heard.”
Japanese officials say Kishida is safe and unharmed. NHK reported that he had been taken to another location where he was surrounded by police officers who were guarding him.