Silence descends around China’s deadliest mass killing in years as flowers cleared away

ZHUHAI, China -- Online discussion about China's deadliest mass killing in years was being censored Wednesday as authorities in a southern city cleared candles and flowers from the memorial to the 35 people dead.

Police have offered little information about the 62-year-old driver who rammed his vehicle into a sports complex in Zhuhai on Monday, mowing down people as they were exercising. They said the man, identified only by his surname of Fan, was upset about his divorce settlement. He was arrested as he tried to flee the scene.

The attack, which also severely injured 43 people, took place on the eve of the Zhuhai Airshow, sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army and held every other year. China often makes extra efforts to tightly control information around major or sensitive events.

Chinese authorities also closely monitor public discourse around major catastrophes or violence, often censoring eyewitness accounts. It took almost 24 hours after the attack for the official death toll to be released.

On Tuesday and earlier Wednesday, residents laid flowers outside the Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza in southern Guangdong province. Police presence was light, but the number of officers later increased.

By Wednesday afternoon, authorities had removed the flowers and candles. Uniformed and plainclothes police monitored the area and prevented visitors from gathering or taking photographs. Residents who lingered for longer than a few minutes were asked to leave.

Some visitors continued to lay flowers, but the bouquets were quickly taken away.

“May there be no thugs in heaven,” said a message seen on one bouquet before it was moved from public view. “Good deeds will be rewarded and evil deeds will be punished.”

Residents near the site expressed shock that a mass killing had happened in their neighborhood. Some questioned how a car could have entered an area meant to be restricted to vehicles. Many declined or hesitated to speak to reporters.

The sports complex was closed until further notice.

Videos, quickly censored inside China, circulated outside the Great Firewall. Most were posted by “Teacher Li,” an artist-turned-dissident who runs a X account with 1.7 million followers that posts crowdsourced videos about news in China.

Articles from Chinese media featuring interviews with survivors were quickly taken down.

“It is very shocking," said resident Dong Chilin. "My husband goes jogging there every night. I called him immediately. ... Fortunately, none of the people I know was there that day.”

Another woman, who only gave her last name as Guan, said she had passed the site around 8 p.m. Monday but had thought it was just a traffic accident.

“Of course this was very shocking," she said. “It was very horrible.”

Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for strict punishment according to law in a statement on Tuesday. He also urged all local governments “to strengthen prevention and ... prevent extreme cases from occurring, and to resolve conflicts and disputes in a timely manner,” according to the official Xinhua news agency.

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Wu reported from Bangkok.