Police confirmed a total of 889 menacing online posts, including those threatening attacks on sites of campaign speeches, in the run-up to Sunday's election for the House of Councilors, the upper parliamentary chamber, the National Police Agency said Thursday in a report on security measures for the poll.
The report also showed that 140 cutting tools, such as box cutters and scissors, were found through baggage screenings and metal detector checks conducted at almost all speech venues. But all the tools were for work and study, and no one was arrested.
In response to a series of attacks by so-called lone offenders in recent years, including the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which occurred while he was giving a stump speech in 2022, the NPA set up the first-ever center for integrating threat information regarding such offenders ahead of the Upper House election. Lone offenders carry out terrorist attacks without belonging to groups based on political ideology or religious beliefs.
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