Zhuhai authorities on Wednesday removed flowers and candles left near the spot where a car-ramming attack left 35 dead Monday evening the deadliest killing in recent years in the country, noted AFP journalists.
• Also read: China does not hesitate to prevent the dissemination of sensitive information
A 62-year-old man drove his SUV into people exercising outside a city stadium, police said.
According to the latest report, the tragedy left 35 dead as well as 43 injured whose vital prognosis is currently not in jeopardy, indicated the official media.
The driver was arrested when he stabbed himself with a knife, particularly to the neck, according to the police. Hospitalized and in a coma, he “is not in a condition to undergo questioning,” she said.
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”.
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.
Xi’s intervention
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 to do “everything necessary” 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.
Killings are rare in China, where the streets are generally very safe. But the country has seen a series of deadly attacks in recent months.
In Shanghai in October, a man killed three people and injured 15 others in a knife attack in a supermarket.
In September, a Japanese schoolboy was stabbed to death in the southern city of Shenzhen, sparking a strong reaction from Tokyo.
Monday’s tragedy is one of the deadliest attacks in China in the last two decades.
In March 2014, a stabbing attack carried out by a commando against travelers at a Kunming station (south-west) left around thirty people dead, more than 140 injured and deeply shocked the country.
The authorities had designated separatist militants from the Xinjiang region (northwest China) as those responsible for this attack, described as “terrorist”.
The same year in May, an explosive attack against civilians in a market in Urumqi, capital of this region of Xinjiang, left 39 dead in an incident also described as terrorist by the police.
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