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http://www.scmp.com/news/china/arti...en-square-after-car-drives-crowd-and-explodes
The car is ablaze in Tiananmen Square on Monday. Photo: Weibo
Four people reportedly died and at least ten others were injured after a car drove into a crowd in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the site of 1989 pro-democracy protests that were bloodily suppressed by the government, and burst into flames.
A jeep drove off a road about 400 metres from Tiananmen Square and onto a pedestrian walkway leading to the main entrance of the Forbidden City, along the way injuring multiple tourists and police officers at around Monday noon, according to a statement on the Beijing police microblog.
The vehicle was stopped when it crashed into a barrier in front of the entrance. Three people inside the jeep, including the driver, died in the crash, according to police. Eleven people were injured, the Southern Metropolis Daily said in a Sina Weibo post. Five of them were foreigners, one of whom has since died, the newspaper said. All have been taken to hospital, police said.
The Xinhua news agency has not yet confirmed the fourth casualty.
Chinese police closed the road which runs through the square and evacuated the area following a fire.
Pictures posted on Chinese social media sites showed a plume of black smoke rising in front of the portrait of Mao Zedong hanging on the towering wall of the former imperial palace, police vehicles, and crowds looking on.
Several were deleted within minutes, streets leading to the square were blocked off, and two AFP reporters were detained close to the site.
Beijing transport authorities said on a verified social media account that a subway station next to the square had been closed at the request of police.
The Communist Party’s official People’s Daily said on its website that a car had caught fire. It provided no other details.
Beijing police, reached by telephone, said they had no information. The Beijing government, also reached by telephone, said it did not know what had happened.
The witness said he saw fire engines, an ambulance and numerous police cars heading in the direction of the fire, which sent a plume of black smoke into the sky.
The fire was on the north side of the square close to the main entrance of the Forbidden City, upon which hangs a portrait of the founder of Communist China, Mao Zedong. It was not clear if the fire was on the road or the pavement or the square.
A foreign tourist who was on the square and asked not to be identified said she heard an explosion followed by a fire.
Tiananmen Square is always under heavy security due to its proximity to the Zhongnanhai compound of the central leadership and the Great Hall of the People, where the country’s largely rubber stamp parliament meets.
News of the incident first trickled online Monday afternoon in reports from Chinese social media users on the scene.
Pictures they posted showed the flaming wreck surrounded by several police and emergency vehicles, directly in front of the sign on the Tiananmen gate reading: "May the great unity of the world's people last for 10,000 years."
Details on a motive were not immediately available, but Chinese social media users speculated that it could be intentional.
"Is this the 2013 Tiananmen self-immolation incident?" asked one poster. "There's still a person inside the car!"
Around 120 Tibetans have set themselves alight since February 2009 in Tibet itself and adjoining regions of China, in protest against what they see as Chinese oppression.
The car is ablaze in Tiananmen Square on Monday. Photo: Weibo
Four people reportedly died and at least ten others were injured after a car drove into a crowd in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the site of 1989 pro-democracy protests that were bloodily suppressed by the government, and burst into flames.
A jeep drove off a road about 400 metres from Tiananmen Square and onto a pedestrian walkway leading to the main entrance of the Forbidden City, along the way injuring multiple tourists and police officers at around Monday noon, according to a statement on the Beijing police microblog.
The vehicle was stopped when it crashed into a barrier in front of the entrance. Three people inside the jeep, including the driver, died in the crash, according to police. Eleven people were injured, the Southern Metropolis Daily said in a Sina Weibo post. Five of them were foreigners, one of whom has since died, the newspaper said. All have been taken to hospital, police said.
The Xinhua news agency has not yet confirmed the fourth casualty.
Chinese police closed the road which runs through the square and evacuated the area following a fire.
Pictures posted on Chinese social media sites showed a plume of black smoke rising in front of the portrait of Mao Zedong hanging on the towering wall of the former imperial palace, police vehicles, and crowds looking on.
Several were deleted within minutes, streets leading to the square were blocked off, and two AFP reporters were detained close to the site.
Beijing transport authorities said on a verified social media account that a subway station next to the square had been closed at the request of police.
The Communist Party’s official People’s Daily said on its website that a car had caught fire. It provided no other details.
Beijing police, reached by telephone, said they had no information. The Beijing government, also reached by telephone, said it did not know what had happened.
The witness said he saw fire engines, an ambulance and numerous police cars heading in the direction of the fire, which sent a plume of black smoke into the sky.
The fire was on the north side of the square close to the main entrance of the Forbidden City, upon which hangs a portrait of the founder of Communist China, Mao Zedong. It was not clear if the fire was on the road or the pavement or the square.
A foreign tourist who was on the square and asked not to be identified said she heard an explosion followed by a fire.
Tiananmen Square is always under heavy security due to its proximity to the Zhongnanhai compound of the central leadership and the Great Hall of the People, where the country’s largely rubber stamp parliament meets.
News of the incident first trickled online Monday afternoon in reports from Chinese social media users on the scene.
Pictures they posted showed the flaming wreck surrounded by several police and emergency vehicles, directly in front of the sign on the Tiananmen gate reading: "May the great unity of the world's people last for 10,000 years."
Details on a motive were not immediately available, but Chinese social media users speculated that it could be intentional.
"Is this the 2013 Tiananmen self-immolation incident?" asked one poster. "There's still a person inside the car!"
Around 120 Tibetans have set themselves alight since February 2009 in Tibet itself and adjoining regions of China, in protest against what they see as Chinese oppression.
