Workers stand near the scene where former Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was shot outside Kintetsu Yamato-Saidaiji station square in Nara on July 8, 2022.
STR | Jiji Press | AFP | beautiful pictures
Before Japanese Prime minister Shinzo Abe Officials said they were shot and seriously injured while campaigning on Friday in southern Japan.
Abe, Japan’s longest serving prime minister, was giving a speech in the city of Nara when gunfire rang out around 11:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. ET Thursday). Public broadcaster NHK, citing the local fire department, reported that Abe was in cardiac and pulmonary arrest, indicating that his heart had stopped.
It said he was admitted to Nara Medical University Hospital.
In a brief statement on camera, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Abe’s condition remained “unknown” and that one person had been arrested in connection with the shooting.
“Such a barbaric act is completely unacceptable and we strongly condemn it,” he said. Incumbent Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and ministers traveling on business in various parts of the country will return to Tokyo immediately, he added.
Elections for the upper house of the National Assembly of Japan are on Sunday. Abe, 67, who steps down in 2020, is campaigning for other members of the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) but is not a candidate himself.
The incident sent shockwaves across Japan, where gun violence is extremely rare. Pistols are banned in the country and residents must go through multiple checks, training, and background checks to obtain and keep handguns and airguns.
Iwao Horii, an LDP member of the upper house representing Nara, stood next to Abe as the former prime minister was shot. “We heard two loud sounds while he was talking and he fell right after,” Horii said at a news conference. He added that Abe was unresponsive when emergency doctors tried to resuscitate him.
Horii said Abe’s appearance at that venue was advertised locally via fax to the media and loudspeakers on election cars. He said he was not aware of any threats against Abe or the LDP prior to the speech.
“This is what shakes the foundations of democracy and cannot be forgiven,” he said. “At this time, we are all praying for the speedy recovery of former Prime Minister Abe.”
The US ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, said he was shocked and saddened to hear of the shooting.
“Abe-san has been an outstanding leader of Japan and a firm ally of the United States,” Emanuel said in a statement Friday. “The US government and the people of the United States are praying for the happiness of Abe-san, his family, and the people of Japan.”
Abe comes from Japan’s political elite, and as prime minister, restoring economic growth through his “Abenomics” policies became a key pillar of his rule.
Although Abe has been praised for raising Japan’s profile on the world stage, his party has been plagued by scandals and he is accused of mishandling the country’s response. for the Covid-19 pandemic.
Abe’s resignation two years ago comes amid the worsening of his ulcerative colitis, a chronic bowel disease he has battled for years.
He made the announcement days after setting a record as Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, having served for nearly eight years. Before that, he served as prime minister from 2006 to 2007.
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