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A man who killed dozens of people when he drove his car into people exercising outside a sports stadium in southern China has been sentenced to death.
Fan Weiqiu is accused of “endangering public safety”, according to a court statement.
At least 35 people were killed and many others injured on November 11 in Zhuhai, in what is believed to be China’s deadliest in a decade.
According to the court, the 62-year-old woman decided to drive her car into the crowd on the expressway because she was “not satisfied” with the way her property was distributed after the divorce.
The court said the motive was “extremely evil” and the “methods” “extremely cruel”. A witness told Caixin magazine that he drove “around” and left the victims “injured on both sides of the tracks” – a popular place for people to exercise.
Fan – who was initially reported to be in a coma, after stabbing himself – admitted his guilt in front of the families and people of the victims, Chinese media reported.
The attack was one of 19 targeted attacks in China this year – including two within a week of the Zhuhai attack.
Not all of them have cars. In February, a mass shooting in Shandong in February killed at least 21 people. The incident was widely condemned by the Chinese authorities.
In total, at least 63 people have been killed and 166 injured in the protests. This is increasing significantly in previous years – 16 killed and 40 injured in 2023, for example.
Some have suggested that the rise in protests may reflect growing frustration and anger as the economy slows and uncertainty about the future grows.
“These are signs of people with a lot of grievances,” Lynette Ong, a professor of Chinese politics at the University of Toronto in Canada, told AFP reporters in November.
