Deadly Zhuhai car attack sparks questions in China

Wednesday at 01:21 PM

A car attack that killed 35 people in China has sparked questions about a recent spate of public violence, as officials continue to censor discussion on the incident.

On social media, many are discussing the social phenomenon of “taking revenge on society”, where individuals act on personal grievances by attacking strangers.

Police said the driver who ploughed into crowds at a stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai on Monday night acted out of unhappiness over a divorce settlement.

While it is believed to be China’s deadliest known act of violence in decades, it follows a string of attacks in recent months, including a stabbing spree at a Shanghai supermarket and a knife attack at a Beijing school.

Amid a national outcry over the Zhuhai incident, President Xi Jinping has vowed “severe punishment” for the perpetrator. Police said the 62-year-old driver, who has been arrested, is in a coma due to self-inflicted wounds.

On Chinese social media platforms, many expressed shock at his actions and asked if it was a symptom of deeper societal problems.

One comment that went viral on Weibo read: “How can you take revenge on society because your family life is not going well? You’ve taken the lives of so many innocent people, will you ever have peace of mind.”

“If there is a widespread lack of job security and huge pressure to survive… then society is bound to be full of problems, hostility and terror,” a user said on WeChat.

Another person wrote in a widely-shared post: “We should be examining the deep-rooted, social [factors] that have fostered so many indiscriminate [attacks on] the weak.”

A number of violent attacks in China have been reported this year, including a mass stabbing and firearms attack in Shandong in February which killed at least 21 people.

In October, a knife attack at a top school in Beijing injured five people, while in September, a man went on a stabbing spree at a supermarket in Shanghai, killing three people and injuring several others.

Many posts, comments and articles about the Zhuhai incident have been censored in recent days, as officials limit discussion of what appears to have been deemed a politically sensitive topic. In China, it is common for censors to quickly take down social media posts linked to high-profile incidents of crime.

Despite this, several emotional accounts raising questions about the incident have continued circulating widely online. The BBC has not been able to independently verify these accounts.

One person said a family friend was killed in the attack when she was doing her evening workout with a walking group.

“My mother is finding it hard to accept the loss of such a close friend. The more I witness her grief, the more I resent the cold-bloodedness of the murderer,” the person wrote.

They also accused Chinese media of “barely reporting” on the incident while giving more coverage to a high-profile military airshow taking place in Zhuhai at the same time.

“In the eyes of those in power, aeroplanes are more important than human lives.”

Several Chinese media outlets have told BBC Chinese that in the initial hours after the incident, they had received clear instructions not to report on it.

News outlets have since put out reports on the attack, mostly angling on statements from the police and Xi Jinping.

But state broadcaster CCTV did not mention the attack in its lead midday bulletin on Wednesday – instead focusing on President Xi’s upcoming trip to South America and the airshow in Zhuhai.

The main pages of China’s daily newspapers also had no mention of the deadliest act of mass violence in public in years.

Another widely circulated post was written by a person who said their mother was badly injured in the attack and was currently receiving treatment in a hospital’s intensive care unit.

The person said it was unclear if their mother would survive and that their father, who witnessed the attack, was devastated. “His heart is broken, but he is still trying his best to respond calmly to phone calls and all the people who care about my mum.”

They also criticised the lack of information in the hours following the incident.

“Up to 10 hours after it happened, there were no statistics on the casualties, no statements from the police,” they said.

Other users have mentioned how it took 24 hours for authorities to release the full 35-person death toll. The Weibo social media platform has also censored a hashtag mentioning the death toll.

Additional reporting by Fan Wang.

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