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ASSASSINATED former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe received a state funeral today, but thousands of people marched in protest at the veteran right-wing leader being according this rare honour.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida claimed that the taxpayer-financed ceremony, attended by US Vice-President Kamala Harris, Japanese Crown Prince Akishino and other Japanese and foreign dignitaries, was a justified tribute to the country’s longest-serving political leader of modern times, but it deeply split public opinion.
Tokyo was under high security, especially near the funeral venue, the Budokan martial arts hall.
Thousands of protesters marched toward the hall, some banging drums and many shouting or holding banners and signs proclaiming their opposition.
“Shinzo Abe has not done a single thing for regular people,” participant Kaoru Mano said.
Japan’s main opposition parties boycotted the event, which critics say recalled how governments used state funerals to fan nationalism in the years leading up to the second world war.
The decision to give Mr Abe a state funeral, which was taken without parliamentary debate or approval, sparked anger, particularly given the high cost of the event.
Mr Kishida has also been criticised following revelations that Mr Abe and the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have had decades of close ties to the Unification Church — commonly known as the Moonies — which is accused of raking in huge donations by brainwashing adherents.
The man suspected of assassinating Mr Abe reportedly told police that he had killed the former prime minister because of his links to the church, which he said took large amounts of money from his mother, bankrupting his family and ruining his life.
“The fact that the close ties between the LDP and the Unification Church may have interfered with policy-making processes is seen by the Japanese people as a greater threat to democracy than Abe’s assassination,” Professor Jiro Yamaguchi, a political scientist at Hosei University, wrote recently.