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Asama-Sansō incident
1972 hostage crisis and police siege in Japan
Asama-Sansō incident
The Asama-Sansō incident (あさま山荘事件, Asama sansō jiken) was a hostage crisis and police standoff at a mountain lodge near Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, which lasted from February 19 to February 28, 1972. The police rescue operation on the final day of the standoff was the first marathon live television broadcast in Japan, lasting 10 hours and 40 minutes. The incident began when five armed members of the United Red Army (URA), following a bloody purge that left fourteen members of the group plus one bystander dead, broke into a holiday lodge below Mount Asama, taking the wife of the lodge-keeper as a hostage. A standoff between Japanese police and the URA radicals took place, lasting ten days. The lodge was a natural fortress, solidly constructed of thick concrete on a steep hillside with only one entrance, which, along with their guns, enabled the hostage-takers to keep police at a distance. On February 28, the police stormed the lodge. Two police officers were killed in the assault...
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