The driver who killed dozens in a car attack in China was given a death sentence

The court has condemned a motorist who killed hundreds in a vehicle assault in China to death.

A man has been given the death penalty for killing 35 people when he crashed his car into a group of people who were working out outside a stadium in southern China.

Fan Weiqiu was charged of “endangering public safety” by the Zhuhai court, which also called his conduct “extremely vile” and his techniques “particularly cruel.” In China, the 11 November incident is regarded as the bloodiest in a decade.

According to the court, Fan, 62, was “dissatisfied” with the way his property was divided following his divorce, so he drove at high speeds and targeted persons on a jogging track. According to witnesses, he drove “in a loop,” injuring others on the other side of the track, which is a common place for people to work out.

According to Chinese media, Fan was first said to be in a coma following self-inflicted knife wounds, but he eventually confessed his guilt in front of the relatives and members of the public.

The alarming increase in sporadic incidents of violence around China includes this attack. At least 63 people were killed and 166 injured in 2024 as a consequence of 19 assaults against strangers, including the Zhuhai event. This is a sharp rise from the 16 fatalities and 40 injuries that occurred in 2023.

Vehicles were not involved in every occurrence. For example, officials significantly suppressed a February mass stabbing and gun incident in Shandong that claimed 21 lives. The rise in such violence has been attributed by experts to mounting resentment and rage in the face of economic downturns and increased future uncertainty.

Lynette Ong, a professor of Chinese politics at the University of Toronto, told AFP in November that these were signs of a community that had many unresolved issues.