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A man was arrested after he was accused of throwing several firebombs into the headquarters of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo on Saturday. There were no reports of injuries.
Tokyo police declined to comment, stating that the matter was still under investigation. The man had also driven his car into nearby security fencing outside prime minister Shigeru Ishiba’s office, which is close to the LDP headquarters situated in Nagatacho, news reports said.
The police have named the suspect as Atsunobu Usuda, 49, of Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo, and he was arrested on the scene for obstruction of official duties.
His motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has become increasingly unpopular with the public due to a ballooning money scandal involving dubious funding and suspected tax evasion.
The party declined to comment on Saturday’s attack, referring all queries to the police.
Local media quoted Ishiba, who was in Kagoshima in southern Japan on Saturday, as saying democracy should never give in to violence.
Voting for the lower house of Parliament is set for 27 October. Some politicians have lost the official backing of the ruling party but are running as independents.
The party recently chose a new leader, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, hoping to present a new image. But polls show its popularity plummeting, although it’s still unclear whether they will lose their majority grip on the lower house in the upcoming election given the splintered opposition.
Mr Ishiba, a moderate and former defence minister, won the ruling LDP presidential election at his fifth and final attempt last week, defeating economic security minister Sanae Takaichi in a runoff vote.
Some candidates have been heckled, which is relatively rare in Japanese culture.
The Liberal Democrats have ruled Japan almost incessantly over recent decades. They are credited with leading Japan as it became an economic powerhouse from the devastation of World War II.
Then-prime minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated in 2022, while making a speech for a ruling party candidate during a parliamentary election. The killer used a handmade firearm, saying he resented Abe because his mother gave all the family money to the Unification Church, and he saw Abe as affiliated with that church. Such ties are still ongoing with some ruling party politicians.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
