Police and the public safety commissions of Tokyo and Saitama prefectures held hearings for the Kokusui-kai underworld group Tuesday regarding provisional orders imposed earlier this month prohibiting the gang from using its offices.

The provisional orders came in the wake of a series of shootings in the group's strife with Yamaguchi-gumi.

Under a law to curb organized crime groups, the Kanagawa Prefectural Police and the prefectural public safety commission also held a hearing for Yamaguchi-gumi later in the day.

At the hearing held at the Metropolitan Police Department, police explained the restraining order to Kokusui-kai representatives as well as the reasons why they banned the use of its offices.

A senior official of Kokusui-kai admitted that its lower organizations had been rivals of Yamaguchi-gumi-related groups but added that the Kokusui-kai headquarters knew nothing about the conflict.

The Kokusui-kai officials asked police to permit the use of the space used by one of its affiliated companies, whose office is in the same building as its headquarters in Tokyo's Taito Ward.

The strife between Kokusui-kai and Yamaguchi-gumi erupted earlier this month, after a man affiliated with Kokusui-kai was found shot dead in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward. It was believed to have set off the series of shootings in and around Tokyo.

Kokusui-kai has four offices in Tokyo and Saitama that are targeted under the provisional order, and Yamaguchi-gumi is similarly banned from using one in Kanagawa.

The law stipulates that police can forgo hearings prior to announcing an official order if they hear statements against a provisional order.

Based on the contents of Tuesday's hearings, each public safety commission will decide whether to give an official order, officials said.