Japan Tightens Security for Campaign Street Speeches, Following Firebomb Attack on LDP Headquarters

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:06 JST, October 22, 2024

Police and candidates in the ongoing House of Representatives election are concerned about security during streetside speeches, after a failed attack on the Liberal Democratic Party’s headquarters.

In the attack on Saturday, a man threw firebombs at the LDP headquarters in the Nagatacho district in Tokyo.

At outdoor speeches by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is also the LDP president, metal detectors are being used to ensure his safety.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiko Aoki condemned the attack at a press conference Monday. “Elections are the foundation of democracy. We must never succumb to violence,” he said.

He added that the government had instructed all prefectural police forces to do everything they can to protect important persons and others.

On Monday near JR Nara Station in Nara, Ishiba asked his audience at the beginning of his speech to forgive him for “talking to you from so far away,” and then called for support for LDP candidates.

His campaign car was parked beside the wall of a traffic circle, and bulletproof walls were erected behind and at the foot of the prime minister.

Audience members had their bags checked via the metal detectors, and they listened to Ishiba’s speech from about 30 meters away from his campaign car.

Yoshihiko Noda, president of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, delivered a streetside speech in Sapporo on Monday. He stood with his back against a building’s wall, and bulletproof black screens were placed on either side of him.

Since September, when Noda became the CDPJ leader, he has had bodyguards assigned to him from the Metropolitan Police Department. On Monday, Noda shook hands with members of the audience over fencing.

In Akita, where he was visiting, Noda told reporters, “It’s unfortunate that I’m further away from voters now.”

The tight security for the election is due to a series of attacks on high-profile individuals in Japan and abroad.

During a House of Councillors election campaign in July 2022, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead while delivering a speech on a street in Nara.

In the United States, former President Donald Trump was shot during a rally in July.