Initial elements of the investigation suggest that the man may have committed his act because of “his dissatisfaction with the division of property following his divorce”.
Car ram attack in China: the Japanese embassy issues a strange request to its nationals
AFP journalists present on site Tuesday evening saw numerous flowers and candles left at the entrance to the sports complex, in tribute to the victims.
During the night, however, agents began to take away these bouquets and candles, one of them explaining that they were applying instructions “from above”.
People in the immediate vicinity of where the attack took place were also prevented from taking videos by police and security agents.
This is notably the case of a BBC journalist, Stephen McDonell, correspondent in China, who was pushed and told to stop filming by an angry man. The identity and role of this man has not been clarified.
Images broadcast Monday evening, geolocated by AFP, showed people lying motionless on the ground, while passers-by tried to revive other victims.
A witness cited by Chinese magazine Caixin said the vehicle was circling, presumably in an attempt to reach as many people as possible.
“People were injured in all areas of the race track: east, south, west and north,” he said.
The police reported on Monday that a car had hit pedestrians, but only mentioned injuries. Videos of the drama had also been removed from social networks.
Chinese President Xi Jinping asked that “everything necessary” be done to treat the injured, and wanted the perpetrator to be “punished in accordance with the law”, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The incident occurred as Zhuhai hosts China’s largest civil and military air show.
