Man arrested after 'Molotov'-like bombs tossed at Japan ruling party HQ

A man was arrested after throwing several suspected petrol bombs at the headquarters of Japan's ruling party Saturday 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 a 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.

The prime minister's office is located about 15 minutes' walk from the LDP headquarters in central Tokyo.

Images from the aftermath of the incident showed a dark blue riot police van whose front section was partly burned away, as firefighters and police officers gathered at the scene.

"Democracy must never succumb to violence," LDP head Ishiba said while campaigning in southern Kagoshima region, according to local media reports.

"This happened during the election campaign, but we will do everything to ensure that elections and democracy are not destroyed by violence," the prime minister said.

Japan will hold a general election on October 27 in a test for Ishiba, who took office after winning the LDP's leadership vote last month.

Violent crime is rare in Japan, which has strict gun control laws.

But the country was shaken in 2022 by the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot in broad daylight on the campaign trail by a man with a makeshift gun.

Ishiba's predecessor Fumio Kishida was also targeted in 2023 by a man who threw an apparent homemade pipe bomb towards the then-premier, who was unharmed in the incident.

The conservative LDP has been in power for most of Japan's post-war history, albeit with frequent leadership changes.

Low voter turnout and a divided opposition mean the party and its junior coalition partner are likely to win this month's election, although the size of their majority could shrink.

The policies of former defence minister and confessed security policy "geek" Ishiba, 67, include plans to "re-create" aging Japan by revitalizing depopulated rural areas.