A farmer attacked children with a hammer at a primary school in eastern China yesterday before setting himself on fire in the latest in a series of apparently copy-cat attacks, state media said.
The rampage in Shandong Province left five children and a teacher hurt but in stable condition, Xinhua news agency said, and came as schools across China stepped up security over fears of further attacks.
Before the incident, China had seen three stabbing frenzies at schools in the past month, including two this week alone, by mentally disturbed adults that left eight children dead and nearly 50 injured.
The attacks underscore how China — which has enjoyed lower violent crime rates than the West — faces a growing public safety threat from disgruntled individuals amid rising mental illness rates and looser social controls.
In the Shandong attack, farmer Wang Yonglai broke through a gate at the Shangzhuang Primary School in Weifang City with his motorcycle in the morning and began hitting children with the hammer.
He also struck the foot of one teacher who tried to block him, Xinhua said.
Wang then poured gasoline over himself and ignited it while holding two of the children in his arms. Teachers pulled the children to safety and the man died at the scene, the report said.
On Thursday, a jobless man injured 29 children and three adults with a knife used to slaughter pigs in an attack at a kindergarten in the eastern city of Taixing.
Police said the man carried out the attack out of anger over a “series of business and personal humiliations,” Xinhua said.
A day earlier, a 33-year-old teacher on sick leave due to mental problems injured 15 students and a teacher in a knife attack at a primary school in southern China’s Guangdong Province.
The assailants in both of those attacks were arrested and all victims were said to be out of life-threatening condition.
The Guangdong attack occurred just hours after authorities in Fujian Province in the southeast executed a former doctor for stabbing to death eight children and injuring five on March 23 in a fit of rage after he split with his girlfriend.
In response, authorities across China have ordered stepped-up security at schools, increased police patrols near school grounds and tighter monitoring of people known to be mentally ill, reports from around the country said.
Schools in several provinces have been ordered to employ measures including full-time security staff, barring all unauthorized visitors and devising emergency evacuation plans, the reports said.
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