JAPAN|
A 53-year-old woman in Japan has been arrested after she sprayed a water gun at the Olympic torch as a runner carried it past her, Japanese media The Mainichi reported.
Police have said that the woman has since admitted to her actions and said that her motive was to protest the Olympics.
Shouted anti-Olympic slogans as well
The incident was captured on video, showing the woman waiting for the 77-year-old relay runner with the torch, she then squirted the water gun at the torch.In addition, she can also be heard shouting in Japanese, “Oppose the Olympics! Stop the Olympics!”Security personnel surrounding the runner are then seen raising a small plastic shield to repel the water before stopping to question her.
Soranews24 further reported that the water gun she used was the pink model of a Fancy & Toy Tonari Splash Water Gun, with a range of five-metres, a 130-cubic-centimetre clip, and a snub-nosed 21-centimetre design, which allowed her to conceal the gun easily.A deputy police chief in Mito, Noriaki Nagatsuka, said that she had been deliberately aiming at the runner with the intention of interfering the relay, according to Vice News.
He was quoted as adding, “You can’t shoot water at people for no good reason. She clearly wasn’t playing around—this isn’t child’s play.”