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TOKYO: A man was taken to hospital unconscious after apparently setting himself on fire near the office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Wednesday (Sep 21), local media said.
Outlets including TV Asahi and the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said the man indicated that he was opposed to plans for a state funeral for assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe. Police and the prime minister’s office declined to comment on the reports.
A police officer who tried to extinguish the fire was also injured and both were transferred to a hospital, according to TV Asahi.
Abe was assassinated on Jul 8 and his state funeral is set for Sep 27, with about 6,000 people from Japan and overseas set to take part.
But opposition to the event has been growing steadily because of revelations after Abe’s killing of links between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the controversial Unification Church. The suspect in Abe’s death said the church had bankrupted his mother and he felt the former prime minister supported it.
A majority of Japanese now oppose the funeral, with protests planned in the run-up to the ceremony and on the day it will be held, and this has sent current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s support plunging.
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