TOKYO (Reuters) – A man protesting the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set himself on fire near the prime minister’s office, Asahi TV reported on Wednesday.
The report stated that a police officer who was unconscious and trying to put out the fire was also injured and both were taken to hospital.
Abe was assassinated on July 8, and his state funeral is scheduled for September 27, with an estimated 6,000 people from Japan and the world attending.
But opposition to the event has grown steadily, with revelations emerging following the death of links between Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the controversial Unification Church. The suspect in Abe’s death said the church was responsible for bankrupting his mother, and he felt the former prime minister supported the institution.
Most Japanese now oppose the funeral, and protests are planned in the days before and on the day it is held, the ceremony that led to the fall of current prime minister Fumio Kishida.
source: Noticias
