Tokyo police arrest a man who allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at the LDP headquarters

TOKYO (Reuters) – Tokyo police said on Saturday they had arrested a 49-year-old man who appeared to have thrown Molotov cocktails at the headquarters of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) earlier in the day.

He also crashed his van into the security fence outside the prime minister’s office, located near the LDP headquarters in Nagatacho, and threw what appeared to be a smoke bomb at police officers, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department said.

The man, identified as Atsunobu Usuda, was arrested on the spot for obstructing his official duties, the spokesman said.

The incident occurred during the campaign for the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 27 by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Japanese media reported that there were no injuries in the incident, which occurred before 6 a.m. local time (2100 GMT Friday).

Television footage showed about a dozen plastic containers in his vehicle.

Local media quoted Ishiba as saying that democracy must never give in to violence. He was in Kagoshima, southern Japan, on Saturday.

According to local media, LDP general secretary Hiroshi Moriyama said the party would continue the election campaign as planned.

(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)