Thirty-five people were killed and 43 others injured after a car drove into a group of people outside a sports centre in China's southern city of Zhuhai on Monday evening, state television CCTV reported on Tuesday. The suspect, a 62-year-old divorced male, drove a car into the crowd. The suspect was trying to commit self-harm with a knife when he was controlled by the police at the scene. The suspect was sent to a hospital for treatment, according to a statement released by Zhuhai police on Tuesday.
Police identified the man only by his family name Fan, consistent with the practice by Chinese authorities. The police statement said the vehicle knocked down “a number of” pedestrians Monday evening.
It was not immediately clear whether it was an attack or an accident. No motive was mentioned, and police said investigations continued.
China state media reported that President Xi Jinping urged people to help fellow citizens who received injuries in the hit-and-run case.
China censors accident videos on social media
Videos showed a firefighter performing CPR on a person, as people were told to leave the scene. They were shared by news blogger and dissident Li Ying, who is better known on X as Teacher Li. His account posts daily news based on user submissions. Dozens of people were lying prone on the running track in the sports centre in the videos. In one, a woman says “my foot is broken.”
By Tuesday morning, searches for the incident on Chinese social media were heavily censored on Chinese social media platforms. A search on Weibo for the sports centre only turned up a few posts, with only a couple referring to the fact something had happened, without pictures or details. Articles by Chinese media about the incident from Monday night were taken down.
Chinese internet censors take extra care to scrub social media ahead of and during major events, such as the meeting of the National People’s Congress, where the government announces its major policy initiatives for the coming year.
The sports centre for the city district of Xiangzhou regularly attracts hundreds of residents, where they can run on the track field, play soccer and social dance. Following the incident, the centre announced it would be closed until further notice.
Random attacks in China
China has seen a number of attacks in which suspects appear to target random people such as schoolchildren. In October, a 50-year-old man was detained after he allegedly used a knife to attack children at a school in Beijing. Five people were injured. In September, three people were killed in a knife attack in a Shanghai supermarket.
(With inputs from agency)
