Zhuhai car attack: China clears memorial as government scrambles to respond

ZHUHAI: Authorities in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai removed wreaths, candles and even bottles of Chinese alcohol laid at the scene of the deadliest mass killing in the country in a decade, as the government scrambled to respond and censor the outrage online.

On Monday, a male driver angry at his divorce settlement rammed his car into a crowd at a sports centre in the city of 2.5 million, killing 35 people and injuring 43, but the government took almost a day to announce the death toll.

This prompted an outrage on Chinese social media, where posts complaining about the government’s slow response and raising questions about the mental health of a nation shaken by a recent spate of similar killings, were being quickly removed.

Despite the efforts to clear the site in Zhuhai, which is near Macau, delivery drivers on motor-bikes kept dropping off fresh flowers on Wednesday morning, even as authorities erected temporary barriers around the makeshift vigil area and deployed security personnel.

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“The authorities hadn’t released any information - some colleagues mentioned it and I couldn’t believe it at first, but it was confirmed later,” said a 50-year-old man who identified himself as Zheng who brought flowers to the site.

“It’s just a spontaneous feeling I had. Even though I don’t know them personally, I had family members who passed away in the past, so I understand that feeling,” said Zheng.

Some wreaths carried handwritten notes: “Strangers travel well. May there be no demons in heaven,” read one. On another: “May there be no thugs in heaven. Good will triumph over evil. Rest in peace.”

After initially allowing journalists to briefly speak to the people laying the flowers, a handful of security personnel sporting light blue uniforms and caps told reporters not to talk to the people or to film specific messages on the bouquets.

The attack happened as Zhuhai captured China’s attention with the People’s Liberation Army’s largest annual airshow, where a new stealth jet fighter is on display for the first time.

China’s state broadcaster CCTV did not mention the attack in its 30-minute midday news bulletin. Instead, the program led with President Xi Jinping’s departure for the APEC summit in Peru and devoted a portion of the airtime to the airshow.

Other state media ,such as China Daily’s Chinese language website, also prominently displayed the news of Xi’s upcoming visit to Peru. The current affairs part of China Daily’s website and the local area page did not mention the incident either.

Hundreds of rescue personnel were deployed to provide emergency treatment, and more than 300 healthcare workers from five hospitals worked around the clock to save lives, state media’s Beijing Daily reported on Tuesday.

There was no indication that the attack was related to the airshow.

But it was the second such incident to occur during the Zhuhai airshow: in 2008, at least four people were killed and 20 injured when a man drove a truck into a crowded schoolyard during the airshow. Police said that attacker had been seeking revenge over a traffic dispute.

Xi, cited by CCTV on Tuesday, ordered all-out efforts to treat the injured and demanded severe punishment for the perpetrator.

The central government has dispatched a team to provide guidance on handling of the case, CCTV said.

Violent crime is rare in China due to tight security and strict gun laws.

However, a rise in reports of knife attacks in large cities has drawn public attention to safety in public spaces.

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The deadliest attack Reuters was able to identify in recent years in China took place in Urumqi, in China’s western Xinjiang region, in 2014, in which suicide bombers killed 39 people and four of the five attackers also died.