Call for death penalty

Divorce as motive for SUV rampage with 35 fatalities

Grieving people lay flowers at the scene of the crime.

(Bild: APA Pool/AP)

Horror in China after a rampage with 35 fatalities: A 62-year-old man drove an SUV into a crowd of people in the city of Zhuhai on Monday evening, causing dozens of injuries in addition to the fatalities. On Wednesday, the authorities revealed the driver's motive. He was frustrated over the division of assets following his divorce from his wife ...

Numerous people also laid flowers at the scene of the crime in front of a sports center, and social networks are now full of comments expressing bewilderment and calling for a harsh punishment for the driver. "He deserves the death penalty," wrote one user on the Weibo social network. "What motivated him to commit such an inhumane act?" asked another.

Many compared the man's actions to terrorism. According to the security authorities the day before, the crime, in which 43 people were also injured, had a personal background after preliminary investigations.

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Motive: frustration after divorce
The driver was unhappy about the division of assets after his divorce. He had deliberately broken through the gate of a municipal sports center with a small off-road vehicle and hit people who were training there. The man was immediately apprehended by the police as he fled. He also inflicted serious injuries on himself with a knife, which is why he could not be questioned.

Authorities only informed 24 hours late
The authorities' actions were criticized. Although the incident had already occurred on Monday evening, it took around 24 hours for the security authorities to announce that people had been killed. Some media reports about the incident as well as comments on social media were initially blocked by censors immediately after the incident. "A man in Zhuhai killed 35 people in a crime that happened yesterday. I only found out today," said one angry user on Weibo.

Others linked the censorship measures to an international aviation fair currently taking place in Zhuhai, where the Chinese People's Liberation Army is also showcasing its latest aircraft. It was speculated that this should not be overshadowed by bad news.

Recent accumulation of similar acts of bloodshed
There has recently been an increase in such attacks in China. In October, a man was arrested after allegedly attacking children with a knife in a school in Beijing. Five people were injured. In September, three people were killed in a knife attack in a supermarket in Shanghai and 15 others were injured.

Foreign nationals have also been the victims of several attacks this year. In June, several lecturers at a US university in north-eastern China were injured by a man in a park with a stabbing weapon. In the same month, there was also an attack on a Japanese woman and her child in Suzhou in eastern China. In September, a man attacked a Japanese student on his way to school in Shenzhen in southern China and fatally wounded him with a knife.