Japan's ruling party headquarters is attacked with firebombs and suspect is arrested, media report

A man threw several firebombs into the headquarters of Japan’s ruling party in Tokyo Saturday, public broadcaster NHK and other Japanese media reported. There were no reports of injuries.

Tokyo police declined to comment, noting the matter was still under investigation. The man, arrested on the spot, had driven his car into nearby fencing, the news reports said. His motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is 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.

Voting for the lower house of Parliament is set for Oct. 27. Some tarnished politicians 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.

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.

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Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://x.com/yurikageyama