Zhuhai: Driver Fan Weiqiu sentenced to death after car attack

The court described his reasoning as “extremely despicable” and his “methods” as “particularly cruel.” A witness told the Caixin news magazine that he was driving “in circles”, injuring victims “all over the running track”, a popular place for people to exercise.

Fan, who was initially reported to be in a coma and stabbed himself with a knife, confessed his crime in front of the victims’ families and the public, according to Chinese media reports.

The attack was one of 19 targeting foreigners across China this year; two of these occurred within a week of the Zhuhai attack.

Not all of them have relevant tools. At least 21 people died in a mass stabbing and gun attack in Shandong in February. This incident was heavily censored by Chinese authorities.

In total, at least 63 people died and 166 people were injured in these attacks. This is a sharp increase from previous years; for example, 16 dead and 40 injured in 2023.

Some have suggested that the increase in random attacks may indicate a general increase in frustration and anger as the economy slows and uncertainty about the future increases.

“These are symptoms of a society that has a lot of repressed grievances,” Lynette Ong, a professor of Chinese politics at the University of Toronto in Canada, told the AFP news agency in November. he said.