TOKYO: A man was arrested after throwing several suspected petrol bombs at the headquarters of Japan`s ruling party on Saturday and ramming his car into a fence outside the prime minister`s office, police said.

No injuries were reported in the incident, which comes just over a week before a general election in which new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba hopes to shore up his mandate.

A Tokyo police spokeswoman said a 49-year-old man from Saitama, north of the Japanese capital, was `arrested on the spot on suspicion of obstructing public duties`. At around sunrise on Saturday, `he approached the headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party in a vehicle, got out and threw what appeared to be Molotov cocktails,` the spokeswoman said.

`He also drove into the road in front of the prime minister`s office, crashing into a fence to prevent vehicles from entering, and then threw what appeared to be a smoke bomb towards police officers after getting out of the car,` she added.

Public broadcaster NHK said the five or six Molotov cocktail-like objects hit a riot police vehicle, but the fire was soon extinguished and no one was injured.

Several plastic tanks usually used to carry liquids were found in the man`s small white car, according to the Asahi Shimbun daily and other media outlets.

The prime minister`s office is located about 15 minutes` walk from the LDP headquarters in central Tokyo.

Images from the aftermath of the incident showed a dark blue riot police van whose front section was partly burned away, as firefighters and police officers gathered at the scene.

`Democracy must never succumb to violence,` LDP head Ishiba said while campaigning in southern Kagoshima region, according to local media reports.

`This happened during the election campaign, but we will do everything to ensure that elections and democracy are not destroyed by violence,` the prime minister said.-AFP