China Says SUV Plowed Into Crowd of People Outside a School

(Bloomberg) - China said an SUV rammed into a crowd at a primary school, leaving multiple people injured — an incident that comes with the nation already on edge due to a string of violent attacks.

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The latest incident occurred Tuesday morning at a primary school in Changde, a city of some 5 million in the central province of Hunan, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. It added that "multiple students and adults were injured" but said the exact number wasn't yet known.

The police later said that the injuries were not life-threatening, and that the 39-year-old male driver was caught. A video clip posted on X of the apparent aftermath of the crash showed a group of people beating a person that appeared to be the driver. Neither state media nor the police gave a motive or said whether the incident was an intentional attack.

China was stunned last week when a man rammed his small four-wheel drive into pedestrians outside a sports center in the southern city of Zhuhai. Some 35 people were killed and dozens of others injured in the deadliest known act of civilian violence since President Xi Jinping stepped up the rollout of a sprawling surveillance system intended to secure his nation about a decade ago.

Later, a stabbing attack in the eastern province of Jiangsu left eight people dead. The incidents, along with others this year including at schools, have prompted Chinese authorities to call for stronger security measures.

In a meeting Tuesday, the country's top prosecutor declared that it "must be resolute and determined" to punish extreme crimes to deter repeats. "Campus safety matters for the healthy growth of students and for the harmony and stability of society," it added in a statement, vowing "zero-tolerance" for crimes that endanger the safety of pupils.

Internet users in the nation have linked some of the attacks to the nation's economic challenges. The incident on Tuesday attracted as many as 87 million reads on Weibo. Many people called for a harsh punishment of the attacker before the hashtags disappeared, apparently due to the work of censors.

-With assistance from Qianwei Zhang.

(Updates with details throughout.)

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