Monday, a 25-year-old male attacked a kindergarten in the Guandong province of southern China, resulting in six fatalities and one injury, according to the local government.
A government spokeswoman told AFP that among the victims were one teacher, two parents, and three students. According to a statement from the local government, the detained assailant was from the Guangdong county of Lianjiang. The police referred to the incident as a “intentional assault.”
There were both adults and minors among the victims, according to some media reports. Despite the fact that violent crime is uncommon in China due to stringent firearms laws and tight security, incidents of stabbings at pre-schools in recent years have raised concerns about school safety.
On the social media platform Weibo, the latest news prompted heated debate. With 290 million views at 1:50 p.m. (0550 GMT), it was the most popular trending topic. A number of social media users demanded that the suspect be executed.
“It is unconscionable to do this to infants with no agency. How many families will be ruined by this? An individual on Weibo stated, “I support the death penalty.”
Another user questioned school safety, particularly in light of similar assaults in the past.
“Why do such cases continue to emerge?”
China’s Kindergarten Stabbing Suspect
An attack at a kindergarten in the southern province of Jiangxi resulted in three deaths and six injuries in August of last year. In the southwestern region of Guangxi in 2021, a man murdered two children and injured sixteen at a kindergarten.
Attacks on children have also drawn attention to mental health, which is often overlooked due to the stigma attached to mental illnesses.
In 2017, a 22-year-old man detonated an explosive device outside a kindergarten in Jiangsu province, murdering himself and a few others and wounding dozens more.
State media reported that the individual had a neurological disorder and had scrawled death-related phrases on the walls of his residence.
A month ago, a string of violent attacks in Hong Kong brought up the issue of mental health. Experts in mental health cite the COVID-19 pandemic as a significant cause of the increase in mental health issues.
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Source: The Star
