Six people were murdered, including three children, in a kindergarten stabbing in China’s south-eastern Guangdong province.
Police in Lianjiang town claimed they apprehended a 25-year-old guy with the surname Wu.
A teacher and two parents are among the other victims, according to AFP, citing a local official. One other person is also hurt.
Police have labelled this a “intentional assault” but have not specified a possible reason.
The attack occurred on Monday at 07:40 local time (23:40 Sunday GMT), shortly as parents dropped off their children for summer classes. At 08:00, the man was arrested.
According to a storeowner who works near the kindergarten, the surrounding area has been shut off.
As footage of the attack circulated on Chinese social media, it provoked indignation and dismay.
The stabbings also fall into a worrisome trend. Although firearms are prohibited in China, the country has experienced a surge in knife assaults in recent years, with one incidence including an assailant using chemical spray to hurt a classroom of 50 children.
Since 2010, it has recorded at least 17 knife attacks in schools, colleges, and institutions. Ten of them occurred between 2018 and 2023.
A knife-wielding assailant invaded a kindergarten in south-eastern Jiangxi province last August, murdering three people and injuring six more.
Two children were killed and 16 others were injured in a mass stabbing in Beiliu City, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in April 2021.
A knife assault at a kindergarten in Chongqing, southwest China, injured 14 children in October 2018.
The offenders in the majority of these incidents are men who have a grudge against society. Similar trends have been observed in mass killings in different countries, ranging from the United States to Japan. However, analysts believe there may be other causes for the apparent upsurge in mass stabbings in China.
Some believe the Covid-19 pandemic, which drove Chinese towns to experience some of the world’s longest and most difficult lockdowns, is one of the reasons. The long-term consequences are unknown, although they may include sentiments of rage and hatred, as well as the loss of employment, money, and relationships.
Other possible variables mentioned include the great stress and expectations placed on young males in Chinese society. These are worsened by rising youth unemployment and a growing rich-poor split. According to one expert, a strong sense of “social deprivation” can lead to some using violence to vent their discontent against society.
Since 2010, Chinese authorities have increased security around schools. The Ministry of Public Security had asked local authorities to “resolutely crack down” on criminal activity that year in order to safeguard the safety of instructors and students.
Following the April 2021 attack, the education ministry enforced school emergency evacuation drills.
Beijing is also not allowed state media to publish complete details of Monday’s incident at the kindergarten for fear of copycat strikes