Police admit ‘undeniable flaws’ in security after Abe . murder

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Japan is experiencing a day of mourning and crying on the eve of elections to the upper house of parliament to be held this Sunday

Day of pain and mourning in Tokyo. Japan is mourning the death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this Saturday, shot dead the day before during a rally in the west of the country, where police admitted security flaws. “There is no denying that mistakes were made with the escort measures,” lamented Nara’s chief of local guards, Tomoaki Onizuka, after publicly apologizing for the murder of Japan’s most famous politician. Given what has happened, the prefecture’s head has promised “to fully analyze the problems and take the appropriate measures,” he said at a news conference gathered by the Kyodo bureau. “It is an urgent matter for us to conduct an investigation to clarify what happened,” Onizuka said.

Many voices have criticized security following the attack on Abe, 67, at an open-air rally ahead of today’s upper house elections. Why was the former prime minister on the street, critics ask. The truth is that campaign escorts tend to be relatively lax in the Japanese country, which has strict firearms possession laws and a relatively low level of violence.

In fact, in 2021, according to National Police Agency data, the number of reported crimes in Japan fell by 7.5% from the previous year to 568,148, a post-war record drop for the seventh consecutive year. Statistics show that the highest figure was reached in 2002 with up to 2.85 million crimes; a figure that has dropped significantly to this day.

After a steady decline in violence on the streets of Japan for two decades, Abe’s tragic death has shaken the country. So much so that the police have revolutionized election security measures, always minimizing the distance between candidates and voters. On this occasion, there will be a greater presence of agents and citizens will not be able to approach politicians as usual.

A hearse today moved the body of the former prime minister from the hospital to his home in Tokyo as the country was shrouded in tears and pain. Hundreds of civilians have paid their respects to a large wreath at a makeshift altar in Nara, near where Abe was shot twice in the neck and left arm by a 41-year-old former soldier named Tetsuya Yamagami. An image that will be repeated continuously from Friday. “I can’t believe something like this can happen in Japan,” complained Akira Takahashi, 54, who came to lay flowers. “There should have been more security people,” he said forcefully.

Abe came from a political family and became the youngest post-war prime minister when he took office in 2006 at the age of 52. He held the position until September 2007 and later between December 2012 and September 2020, when he resigned due to health concerns. His loss has shocked the world. United States President Joe Biden said he was “shocked, outraged and deeply saddened” by the tragic event. Yoon Suk-yeol, his counterpart in South Korea, a country with which Abe had friction, called the killing an “unacceptable act”, while the Chinese embassy in Japan praised the victim for his “contribution to improving and developing” relations.

Source: La Verdad

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