TOKYO: A man was arrested after throwing what appeared to be Molotov cocktails at the headquarters of Japan’s ruling party on Saturday (Oct 19) and ramming his car into a fence outside the prime minister’s office, police said.
No injuries were reported in the incident, which comes just over a week before an Oct 27 general election in which new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba hopes to shore up his mandate.
A Tokyo police spokeswoman said a 49-year-old man from Saitama, north of the Japanese capital, was “arrested on the spot on suspicion of obstructing public duties”.
At around sunrise on Saturday, “he approached the headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party in a vehicle, got out and threw what appeared to be Molotov cocktails”, the spokeswoman told AFP.
“He also drove into the road in front of the prime minister’s office, crashing into a fence to prevent vehicles from entering, and then threw what appeared to be a smoke bomb towards police officers after getting out of the car,” she added.
Public broadcaster NHK said the five or six Molotov cocktail-like objects hit a riot police vehicle, but the fire was soon extinguished and no one was injured.
Several plastic tanks usually used to carry liquids were found in the man’s small white car, according to the Asahi Shimbun daily and other media outlets.
