Security has been heightened outside schools, and the government is stepping up calls for vigilance by local authorities following a series of attacks that are causing anxiety in China. At least 10 stabbings, often targeting young pupils coming out of school, or vehicles driving into crowds, have taken place since the start of the year, including three between Monday, November 11, and Tuesday, November 19. Schools were already employing security guards, but as many as four could be seen outside school gates on the morning of Tuesday, November 26, armed with shields and batons to repel any potential assailants – and in one case even a ram-raid barrier.
The secretary of the Chinese Communist Party's powerful Political and Legal Affairs Commission, Chen Wenqing, ex-intelligence chief and highest-ranking member of the security apparatus under President Xi Jinping, called a meeting of his subordinates on Friday, November 22, where he called for enhancing comprehensive prevention and control measures to ensure social security, strengthening the management of key locations and major events, and intensifying patrols and monitoring to prevent major public safety incidents. The ministry of justice, the Supreme Court, and party secretaries in provinces such as Hunan all took turns to sound the alarm.
The country usually sees the safety of its streets as proof of the cohesion of Chinese society, and propaganda often highlights the frequency of assault rifle attacks in American colleges, which it claims illustrates the failings of the world's leading power. But recent attacks have raised both concern and doubt.
On June 11, in a park in Jilin (a city in the far north-east of China), a 55-year-old man stabbed four American teachers originally from a university in Iowa who had come as part of an exchange program, as well as the Chinese tourist who tried to protect them. It took 24 hours for authorities to declare the incident, and the images quickly disappeared from social media. The police explained to the victims that the man was unemployed and allegedly acted because one of them had shoved him. One of the victims, David Zabner, now back in the United States, explained that he still had no information about the motives behind the attack.
A few days later, on June 24, in Suzhou (eastern China), 1,500 kilometers away, a Japanese schoolboy, his mother, and a school bus attendant were stabbed to death. On September 18, another Japanese child was stabbed to death in Shenzhen (southeast). On September 30, a 37-year-old man killed three people and wounded 15 others in a Walmart supermarket in Shanghai. According to the authorities, he had financial problems.
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