‘Don’t do that’: TV reporter accosted after horrific attack in China

A horrific attack in China was followed up by the authoritarian regime’s usual tactics – including attempts to shut down the press.

Whenever a horrific or embarrassing event happens in China, there is almost always a secondary story: the authoritarian government’s efforts to keep it quiet.

So it was on Monday, local time, after a car crashed into a stadium in Zhuhai, a city on the country’s southern coast, killing at least 35 people and injuring 45 more.

The incident, which is believed to have been deliberate, appears to be the deadliest act of violence carried out by a member of the Chinese public in decades. Authorities have described it as a “serious and vicious attack”.

The 62-year-old driver of the vehicle, so far identified merely as Mr Fan, is alleged to have been motivated by his divorce. Mr Fan reportedly mowed down people who were exercising on the stadium’s track.

A police car outside the Zhuhai Sports Centre the next day. Picture: Hector Retamal/AFP

The suspect was arrested while trying to leave the scene of the crime. Police say he is now in a coma due to self-inflicted wounds. The country’s President, Xi Jinping, has called for him to suffer a “severe punishment”.

As we alluded to before, the story here is not just the tragedy itself, but the Chinese government’s reflexive reaction to it, which echoes its handling of other incidents.

The BBC’s China correspondent, Stephen McDonell, has published an account of his film crew’s efforts to cover the attack, headlined: “When horror hits China, the first instinct is to shut it down.”

“Often, when sensitive stories like this unfold in China, local Communist Party officials organise groups of cadres to pretend to be outraged locals who have been given the role of targeting foreign reporters and preventing any coverage,” Mr McDonell wrote.

“Invariably it doesn’t stop the stories, it just makes China look bad.”

Mr McDonell in footage showing a Chinese man trying to stop him from filming outside the site of the incident. Picture: BBC

A heated argument ensued.

Footage shared by the BBC shows an unidentified Chinese man approaching Mr McDonell while he is filming a report outside the site of the vehicle attack.

“Stop filming, stop filming,” the man says.

“And then we have this type of thing, of the government trying to stop it from happening,” Mr McDonell says.

“Stop filming. You should leave now,” the man says.

“Don’t do that, I will call the police,” Mr McDonell tells the stranger, urging him not to grab either him or his camera crew.

“Do you have a press card?” asked the man.

“Who are you? You don’t have a right to interrupt us,” counters the reporter.

“I’m a Chinese citizen, you are filming things in China, do you have a press card?” the interrupter says.

“You don’t have the right to bother us. It’s not your concern,” says Mr McDonell.

“You don’t have a right to film,” the stranger insists, reaching out towards the camera.

“Don’t touch him. Don’t do that. You don’t have the right to do that,” says Mr McDonell.

“You should leave now,” says the man.

In the ensuing chaos, the man can be seen trying to cover the camera’s lens with his hand. Picture: BBC

According to Mr McDonell, only security guards were visible around the perimeter when the BBC first arrived at the scene.

“Are you journalists?” one guard asked.

“When I asked why he wanted to know, he replied: ‘Oh just to understand the situation.’” said the journalist.

The guard, and one of his colleagues, took photos of the BBC crew and got on the phone. Meanwhile locals took an interest in the scene.

“Look! Foreigners. Foreigners,” one woman said.

Mr McDonell, drawing on his experience as a correspondent in the country, said that officials tend to want “bad things” to “go away as quickly as possible”.

Preliminary investigations have indicated that Mr Fan’s attack was “triggered by dissatisfaction with the division of property following his divorce,” according to the Chinese authorities.

Footage from Monday night, local time, geolocated by AFP, showed people lying motionless on the ground, while others were seen frantically attempting to resuscitate the unconscious.

An eyewitness, surnamed Chen, told Chinese news magazine Caixin it was common for groups to take daily walks on the dedicated track around the stadium.

He had just completed his third lap on Monday when a car suddenly sped at them and knocked down “many people”, but he was able to jump aside.

Chinese President Xi Jinping. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

Another eyewitness, surnamed Liu, told Caixin that the car “drove in a loop”.

“People were hurt in all areas of the running track. East, south, west, and north,” he said.

Mr Fan was “controlled on the spot” as he attempted to drive away, police said Tuesday.

He was found in his car cutting himself with a knife, and is currently in a coma after self-inflicted injuries to his neck and other parts of his body, unable to undergo interrogation, they added.

The people wounded are not currently in life-threatening condition, police said.

‘No filming’

There were fewer than 20 people at the stadium on Tuesday night, local time, when AFP visited the scene.

Some were attempting to take videos but were blocked by a police car and security guards, who shouted: “No filming!”

At another entrance, candles flickered at a makeshift memorial where people were sending online flower deliveries. One delivery driver said he had already brought 10 orders there.

“Zhuhai is supposed to be the safest city, nothing like this has ever happened here in the last decades,” one resident told AFP.

A shocked young man told AFP he normally went running around the sports centre every night, but hadn’t on Monday, as he was tired.

He lamented the media coverage of the incident, saying that in the past, local outlets would have pressed authorities for answers.

At around midnight, cleaners doused out the candles, and workers took away flowers, saying

– with AFP

Originally published as ‘Don’t do that’: TV reporter accosted after horrific attack in China