Security guards stood guard near a sports center where a man rammed his car into people exercising in the Chinese city of Zhuhai on Monday. Kyodo News/AP Hide captions
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Kyodo News/AP
ZHUHAI, China – A man who authorities said was angry over a divorce settlement drove his car into a crowd exercising at a sports complex in southern China, killing 35 people and seriously injuring dozens, police said Tuesday. It was announced on .
Police detained a 62-year-old man who was being treated for what appeared to be a self-inflicted wound shortly after the attack Monday night in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai. The city hosts the People’s Liberation Army’s annual aviation exhibition, which opened on Tuesday, but searches for what happened were heavily censored for users inside China’s Great Firewall.
However, outside of regulations, the video went viral on social media platform X. Some videos showed dozens of people lying on tracks at the sports complex, which hundreds of residents regularly use to run, play soccer and dance. .
In an article shared by news blogger and dissident Li Ying, the woman said her “leg was broken.” That same video showed firefighters performing CPR on a person while others were told to leave. Lee, known as Teacher Lee on X, posts daily news based on user posts
Police said 35 people were killed and 43 others injured.
China has seen a number of attacks in which suspects appear to have targeted random civilians.
In October, a man was arrested on suspicion of attacking children with a knife at a school in Beijing. Five people were injured. In September, three people were killed and another 15 injured in a knife attack at a Shanghai supermarket. Police said at the time that the suspect was having personal financial troubles and had come to Shanghai to “vent his anger.”
In May, a knife attack at a hospital in Yunnan province left two people dead and 21 injured.
Police said the man detained in Monday’s attack, identified only by his last name, Phan, was unconscious and being treated after being found with a knife wound in his car. Ta.
According to police, preliminary investigation indicates that the man was dissatisfied with the division of financial assets due to the divorce.
Chinese authorities appear to be strictly controlling information about this incident. Internet censors tend to take special care to delete social media before and during major events such as aviation exhibitions and the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress.
For almost 24 hours after the attack, the number of dead and injured was unknown. A search for Sports Center on Chinese social media platform Weibo on Tuesday morning turned up only a few posts mentioning the fact that something had happened, with no photos or details. Articles in Chinese media about the incident Monday night have been deleted.
In a statement Tuesday night, Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for the perpetrators to be “strictly” punished in accordance with the law.
He also called on all local governments to “strengthen prevention and control at the source of risks, strictly prevent the occurrence of extreme cases, and resolve disputes and disputes in a timely manner,” according to state news agency Xinhua. Ta.
