Japanese authorities arrested a man who allegedly threw several firebombs at the country’s ruling party headquarters on Saturday in Tokyo, according to local media reports.
Tokyo police arrested the man on the spot and have declined to provide the media with any comment because the matter remains under investigation. The incident occurred just over a week before House of Representatives elections, which will take place on October 27.
The suspect, identified as 49-year-old Atsunobu Usuda, allegedly appeared to use Molotov cocktails during his assault on the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) headquarters and rammed his car into a security fence, The Japan Times reported.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, the LDP’s leader, said, “Democracy must never be allowed to succumb to violence…. We will continue to take all possible measures to ensure that citizens’ safety and security are properly protected.”
Usuda has remained silent during questioning, but the suspect’s father told local media he was “shocked and confused” upon learning of his son’s arrest and what he had allegedly done to provoke it.
No one has reported any injuries as a result of the incident, but video showed a heavily damaged vehicle that had appeared to burn. Reports indicate that any fire caused by the Molotov cocktails was quickly handled and put out.
Police found additional materials in Usuda’s car, including nearly a dozen gas tanks and several unused Molotov cocktails. The LDP has said nothing and referred all queries to the police, according to the Associated Press.
Some media reports have described economic dissatisfaction with the LDP following revelations of dubious funding and suspected tax evasion. The party appointed Ishiba earlier this month in an effort to revamp its image amid the various controversies.
The attack has been preceded by other political violence, such as the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022 as well as a suspected attack against previous Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in 2023. Abe died when a man shot him with a makeshift shotgun at near-point blank range, and a suspect threw a pipe-shaped smoke bomb at Kishida.
The LDP has remained in control of the Japanese government since 2012, when Abe won election, returning to office after a three-year absence by ejecting then-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
Kyodo News via AP
However, outside of occasional upsets that result in only brief tenures for other parties, the LDP has largely controlled the Japanese government for decades, starting just a few years after the end of World War II.
Despite the party’s role in shaping Japan as a global economic powerhouse in the postwar period, the recent years have seen the party marred by controversy, leading many to question LDP and lose faith in its ability to effectively govern the country.
Polls show that the LDP’s popularity has dropped off, and some candidates have faced public heckling.
