Anti-vax group hit with new charges for breaking into Tokyo Dome inoculation site
TOKYO — Police on July 13 served fresh arrest warrants on the leader of the anti-vaccination group YamatoQ and two of its members for allegedly forcing their way into a COVID-19 mass inoculation site in the Tokyo Dome.
Officers also arrested five other YamatoQ members on the same charges.
YamatoQ head Hiroyuki Kuraoka, 43, and the seven other members are accused of trespassing into the Tokyo Dome in the capital’s Bunkyo Ward on the morning of March 15. The Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Security Bureau has not disclosed whether the eight suspects have admitted to the allegations.
According to the bureau, more than 20 members attempted to barge into the Tokyo Dome vaccination site in two groups. Of the eight people slapped with the latest charges, all but Kuraoka allegedly forced their way into the venue, shouting, “Bring a doctor here,” and, “It’s murder!”
The vaccinations were halted for about an hour due to the incursion. Police suspect that Kuraoka spearheaded the plan.
A resident of Tokyo’s Ota Ward, Kuraoka is already under indictment for trespassing for allegedly breaking into two other vaccination sites. This is the third time he has been slapped with arrest warrants after he was nabbed and indicted twice between April and June.
(Japanese original by Buntaro Saito, Tokyo City News Department)
