China snuffs out memorials to victims of deadly car rampage

ZHUHAI – Officials in southern China ramped up security on Nov 13 at the site of one of the country’s deadliest mass-casualty events in years, snuffing out makeshift memorials to the 35 people killed when a man drove a car into a crowd at a sports complex.

On Nov 11, a 62-year-old man surnamed

Fan ploughed a small sport utility vehicle through a gate to a sports complex

and into crowds of people as they exercised on the roads inside, according to police.

An initial police statement said people were injured but did not mention any deaths, and videos of the attack later appeared to be scrubbed from China’s tightly controlled social media platforms.

As at the morning of Nov 13, the rampage had left 35 people dead and 43 with injuries not deemed life-threatening, according to state media reports.

Local residents and delivery drivers laid bouquets at a gate outside the complex on Nov 13 morning, but within minutes the flowers were carried behind a cordon fence.

“What happened wasn’t a small incident,” a woman of about 50 told AFP, requesting anonymity to protect her privacy.

“We should remember those who passed away and not be so cold. I think more people in Zhuhai should come out here and lay some flowers in memorial.”

There have been no foreign casualties or fatalities in the car ramming attack in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Nov 13.

“The Chinese government has been and will continue to take effective measures to ensure people’s lives and social stability,” ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a press briefing.

“As always, China will earnestly protect the safety of all foreigners in China and Chinese and foreign enterprises.”

A hashtag related to the attack shot to number one on the Weibo social media site but had been removed by Nov 13 afternoon.

Many comments appeared to have been removed or restricted, though some managed to slip through the cracks.

“Such vibrant lives, taken away like this, leaving families shattered. The perpetrator must be strictly punished,” one user wrote.

Divorce dissatisfaction

Police said Fan was apprehended at the scene but was in a coma after inflicting injuries to his neck and elsewhere with a knife, preventing them from interrogating him.

But the force said preliminary enquiries suggested the attack was “triggered by (Fan’s) dissatisfaction with the division of property following his divorce”.

Security at the scene was tight on Nov 13, with plainclothes officers using their bodies and umbrellas to block reporters from taking photos and videos.

Since Nov 12 night, journalists had observed people placing candles and flowers near the site of the attack to commemorate the victims.

But cleaning staff removed the memorials in the early hours of Nov 13, with some saying they were acting on an “order from the top”.

Officials at the site said the items were being moved to a “mourning hall” inside the complex with no access to the public.

Footage of the Nov 11 incident showed people lying motionless on the ground, while others were seen frantically attempting to resuscitate the seemingly unconscious.

Videos of the aftermath suggest the car roughly followed a busy exercise track on the western side of the sports centre, hurtling along the west side of the main stadium and the perimeter of another sports field in front of it.

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged “all-out efforts” to treat the injured and “demanded punishing the perpetrator in accordance with the law”, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The incident took place as Zhuhai hosts China’s largest airshow, showcasing Beijing’s civil and military aerospace sector.

Spate of mass killings

Violent crime is generally rare in China compared with many Western countries, but the country has witnessed a spate of deadly attacks in recent months.

In several cases, Beijing has described the killings as “isolated incidents”, or the motives of the perpetrators have not been publicly disclosed.

After the Zhuhai attack, Mr Xi called on the authorities to “strictly guard against the occurrence of extreme cases”, Xinhua reported.

Japan’s embassy warned its citizens in China to be on high alert and “refrain from speaking loudly in Japanese”, despite no initial indications that any has been targeted.

In September,

a Japanese schoolboy was fatally stabbed

in the neighbouring city of Shenzhen, prompting an outcry from Tokyo.

A man killed three people

and wounded 15 in a knife attack at a supermarket in Shanghai in October, while in July, police said a vehicle crashed into pedestrians in the central city of Changsha, killing eight.

The Nov 11 incident is on a par with some of China’s deadliest attacks in recent memory.

In 2014, 31 people were killed and 143 were wounded in a knife attack at a railway station in the south-western city of Kunming, which officials later blamed on terrorism.

The same year, a vehicle ramming and suicide bombing in the north-western city of Urumqi killed 43, including four assailants, and wounded more than 90. The incident was also deemed a terror attack. AFP