China's top judge vows severe punishment for knife attack that left 29 dead

[Dino Velvet]

Can someone familiar with China shed some light on why there are so many hateful knife attacks? I see a mention of separatists but I have no idea since I'm not familiar with any Uighur minority.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/china-s-top-judge-vows-severe-punishment-for-knife-attack-that-left-29-dead-1.1721817


China's top judge vows severe punishment for knife attack that left 29 dead



The Associated Press
Published Monday, March 10, 2014 8:30AM EDT

BEIJING -- The top judge overseeing China's Communist Party-controlled courts pledged Monday to severely punish culprits in terror attacks such the knife slashing at a train station in Kunming that killed 29 people about a week ago.
In listing this year's priorities, Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court, said that first among them was meting out heavy penalties for terrorism and crimes that endanger public order.
Zhou said the court would work to "maintain national security and social stability and increase the people's sense of security."
The court will work to "let people feel fairness and justice with every judicial case," Zhou pledged.
Officials have said the March 1 attack in the southern city of Kunming was instigated by separatists from the far-west region of Xinjiang, home to the ethnic Uighur minority. Police fatally shot four of the suspects and have the other four in custody.
Zhou also said the court will actively participate in the anti-corruption campaign that has been the hallmark of President Xi Jinping's administration, vowing to target both low and high-level officials.
The top judge also promised to find a systematic way to prevent and correct wrongful convictions, after a number of high-profile cases of miscarriage of justice sparked public anger last year.
The moves reflect Chinese leaders' recognition that an increasingly prosperous public is demanding a more predictable and fair justice system, though party officials are unlikely to fully loosen their grasp over the courts, police and prosecutors.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.1710287!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg
Police officers investigate the crime scene outside a railway station after an attack by knife wielding men left 29 people dead in Kunming, the capital of China's Yunnan province, Saturday March 1, 2014. (AP)

[Tapatio]

So, before the gun nuts show up.....


GUNS DONT KILL PEOPLE- KNIFE WIELDING GANGS OF CHINESE MEN KILL PEOPLE!


Seriously- how long do you think it will be before we hear this cited by an NRA mouthpiece?

[Falrune]

So, before the gun nuts show up.....


GUNS DONT KILL PEOPLE- KNIFE WIELDING GANGS OF CHINESE MEN KILL PEOPLE!


Seriously- how long do you think it will be before we hear this cited by an NRA mouthpiece?

This is why we started using hashi a few years back.

[Dino Velvet]

So, before the gun nuts show up.....


GUNS DONT KILL PEOPLE- KNIFE WIELDING GANGS OF CHINESE MEN KILL PEOPLE!


Seriously- how long do you think it will be before we hear this cited by an NRA mouthpiece?

Please this is not a gun control thread. I do not want to distract away from the issue if it is possible. I understand with the pulse of this board I may be partially guilty of entrapment too.

Can someone familiar with China shed some light on why there are so many hateful knife attacks?

[Michelle Firestone]

Please this is not a gun control thread. I do not want to distract away from the issue if it is possible. I understand with the pulse of this board I may be partially guilty of entrapment too.

Can someone familiar with China shed some light on why there are so many hateful knife attacks?

it's not a gun control thread & i'm not a gun nut. But I did work in a family run chinese restaurant for 7 years & they told me about 1000 times that chinese ppl wished they had guns b/c only police & military have guns there & when they're corrupt they just have power over you b/c they know u dont have a gun. they shake down businesses & rape women in front of their husbands. often they'll shout "I'm police you can't do anything" or something similar. pretty fucked up shit & it really gave me perspective on the gun issue. Not like I believe ppl should have guns with 30-100 bullets in them but it does make u think.

& if anyone accuses me of being a gun nut. nope. I have no idea what should be done about guns in the US. not an easy issue

[Dino Velvet]

Some background from BBC March 1.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-26402367


1 March 2014 Last updated at 21:56 ET


China mass stabbing: Deadly knife attack in Kunming

An attack by knife-wielding men at a railway station in Kunming in south-west China has left at least 29 dead, the state news agency Xinhua says.
Another 130 people were wounded in what authorities said was a "premeditated, violent terrorist attack".
Four suspects were shot dead, one arrested and other are being sought Xinhua said.
City officials said evidence implicated militants from the western region of Xinjiang, but this was not verified.
President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have sent condolences to the victims and their families.
President Xi urged "all-out efforts" to investigate the attack.
"Severely punish in accordance with the law the violent terrorists and resolutely crack down on those who have been swollen with arrogance," Xinhua quoted the president as saying.
Pools of blood Witnesses said that the men, who were mostly dressed in black, attacked people at random.
A survivor named Yang Haifei, who was wounded in the back and chest, told Xinhua he had been buying a train ticket when the attackers rushed into the station.
"I saw a person come straight at me with a long knife and I ran away with everyone," he said.
He added that those too slow to flee were cut down.
Some who escaped were desperately looking for missing loved ones.
Yang Ziqing told Xinhua she and her husband had been waiting for a train to Shanghai "when a knife-wielding man suddenly came at them".
"I can't find my husband, and his phone went unanswered," she said.
Social media users in China posted pictures of the attack on the internet, but correspondents say they are being taken down.
Images seen by the BBC show men and women lying on the floor in pools of blood following the attack.
Kunming officials, quoted by Xinhua, later said that evidence at the scene showed it was "a terrorist attack carried out by Xinjiang separatist forces".
Xinjiang is home to the Muslim Uighur minority group which has a long history of discord with Chinese authorities.
State broadcaster CCTV said top security official Meng Jianzhu would travel to Kunming to oversee the handling of the investigation.
Are you in Kunming? Did you witness the attacks? Please email us at haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk adding 'Kunming' in the subject heading and including your contact details.

[Dino Velvet]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/01/world/asia/china-railway-attack/


Knife-wielding attackers kill 29, injure 130 at China train station

By Ralph Ellis, CNN
updated 10:20 PM EST, Sun March 2, 2014

(CNN) -- Lu Haiyan said the slaughter began while she and a friend were standing in the ticket hall of a Chinese train station.
"Suddenly, many people started running around crazily," she said on Tencent Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter. "We saw two people carrying big cleavers hacking whoever is in the way. They almost got to my back. Then I lost contact with (my friend) and I saw blood splashing in front of me."
Twenty-nine people were killed and 130 were injured Saturday night when 10 men armed with long knives stormed the station in the southwest Chinese city of Kunming, the state news agency Xinhua reported.
Members of a separatist group from Xinjiang, in northwest China, are believed to have carried out the assault, authorities said. The report referred to them as "terrorists."
Police said they killed at least four attackers and shot and wounded a female suspect. Authorities were searching for other suspects.
The killing spree came out of nowhere.
Yang Haifei, a resident of Yunnan, told Xinhua he was buying a ticket when a group of people, most of them in black, rushed into the station with knives.
"I saw a person come straight at me with a long knife and I ran away with everyone," he said, adding that people who were slower were severely injured. "They just fell on the ground."
He said he sustained injuries to his chest and back.
Lu Haiyan said she ran to the main road.
"I ran to a restaurant already with a full crowd," she said. "The restaurant owner shut the door for quite some time before reopening it. Both my hands and legs are shaking."
Xinhua quoted a 50-year-old woman whose older husband was among those killed.
"Why are the terrorists so cruel?" said Chen Guizhen, holding her husband's bloodied ID card.
In the aftermath, postings on Sina Weibo, another Twitter-like social medium, showed local police patrolling the station, with bodies in blood lying on the ground. Chinese state TV showed investigators putting a knife with a blade at least 2 feet long into an evidence bag.
Mass knife attacks are not unprecedented in China. Some occurred in 2010 and 2012 (http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/14/knife-attack-at-chinese-school-wounds-22-children/?iref=allsearch), but the attacks happened at schools and didn't appear to have political connections.
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged law enforcement "to investigate and solve the case and punish the terrorists in accordance with the law," according to Xinhua.
Xinhua said the Kunming railway station is one of the largest in southwest China.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang asked local authorities to ensure safety at public places, Xinhua reported.
Two weeks ago, 11 "terrorists" died in the Xinjiang region, Xinhua reported.
Frequent outbreaks of violence have beset Xinjiang, a resource-rich area where the arrival of waves of Han Chinese people over the decades has fueled tensions with the Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking, predominantly Muslim ethnic group.
CNN's Phil Gast contributed to this report.

[Dino Velvet]

From 12/14/12

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/14/world/asia/china-knife-attack/index.html


Knife attack at Chinese school wounds 22 children

By CNN Staff
updated 9:35 AM EST, Fri December 14, 2012

Beijing (CNN) -- Twenty-two primary school children were wounded in a knife attack Friday in central China, authorities said.
The attack took place at the entrance to the Chenpeng Village Primary School in Henan province, according to the public information department of Guangshan county, the area where the school is located. An adult was also wounded, it said.
Several of the children are in critical condition, the state-run website Chinanews.com said, citing local authorities.
Read more: Malala is face of global attacks on schools (http://www.cnn.co.uk/2012/10/25/opinion/sheppard-malala-schools/index.html)
Police say they have detained a suspect, a 36-year-old man from the village, state media reported.
Initial assessments suggest the man is mentally ill, Chinanews.com said, citing Guangshan authorities.
China was hit by a spate of knife and cleaver attacks that targeted school children in 2010.
A number of measures were introduced at the time, including increased security at schools across the country and a regulation requiring people to register with their national ID cards when buying large knives.
CNN's Shao Tian in Beijing and journalist Pan Xinlei in Hong Kong contributed to this report.




http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/121214021319-china-knife-attack-victim-story-top.jpg
Wei Jingru, a primary school student injured in a knife attack, receives medical treatment in a hospital.

[Niccolo]

If an American military vet had been present, armed, then those boys would have been stopped. In cases like this, guns can save lives.

[AshlynCreamher]

That's a great idea - Every one should be armed with assault riffels!

[robertlouis]

If an American military vet had been present, armed, then those boys would have been stopped. In cases like this, guns can save lives.

Sheesh. And if they had had assault rifles they would have killed three or four times as many people.

There is no problem for which more guns is the answer.

[Tapatio]

If an American military vet had been present, armed, then those boys would have been stopped. In cases like this, guns can save lives.

If ANY large, organized, trained, and armed force was present it might have been stopped. What's with the 'muhrica?

Unless they were imported ninjas, in which case the armed forces would have to die first.

Knife work is usually more personal- does this seem ritualistic?

[Niccolo]

There is no problem for which more guns is the answer. - robertlouis.

So if you had been on holiday in China and were being attacked by those maniacs & about to die - if someone beside you had a handgun and was about to defend you - you'd tell them to put that nasty gun away, you'd rather die?

How strange.

[broncofan]

We held some members of this Uighur minority at Guantanamo years ago. Pronounced "Weeger" by some people who I discussed it with. They were released on habeas petitions from Guantanamo I think but we did not want to grant them asylum. It was a strange case because we took them into our custody, but then when we granted their petitions did not want them to enter U.S proper. They did not want to go back to China. I have no clue where they ended up or whether they continued to be held in detention while they looked for asylum.

But there seems to be some sort of political pretext for the attack. Perhaps someone can fill us in on what their ideology is and why they feel the need to go around slaying people with knives to try to get their way.

[broncofan]

There is no problem for which more guns is the answer. - robertlouis.

So if you had been on holiday in China and were being attacked by those maniacs & about to die - if someone beside you had a handgun and was about to defend you - you'd tell them to put that nasty gun away, you'd rather die?

How strange.
One can always think of specific situations where having a gun would be more useful than not. It does not mean it's socially more useful for everyone to be armed because you can think of rare situations where you might encounter someone bent on killing you.

Such situations may not seem rare because globally they happen every day, but the odds of an individual having such a pressing need for a gun is de minimis compared with the odds of such a person hurting an innocent party with that same weapon. So, I think you're engaging in a bit of sophistry.

Also, let's not make the op upset since he wanted to talk about terrorist attacks in China. If you want to discuss guns and make your argument there are plenty of threads to do that on.

[GroobySteven]

I'll answer Dino's question.

These are terrorist attacks from a Muslim minority. If it was anywhere but China, N.Korean, Russia then the Western media would report it as such. On of the reasons they may be knife attacks is that they're allowed to carry knives as part of their traditional ethnic dress, therefore symbolic.

The Western media prefers to call it blame these on people rebelling from the Chinese state as it lends itself to more anti-Chinese rhetoric. It's a good case of bad media reporting on how it wants to.

Anybody who thinks that anyone but armed police could have made a difference (ie; armed civilians would have saved lives) shows their pure idiocy and low intelligence.

[Dino Velvet]

We held some members of this Uighur minority at Guantanamo years ago. Pronounced "Weeger" by some people who I discussed it with. They were released on habeas petitions from Guantanamo I think but we did not want to grant them asylum. It was a strange case because we took them into our custody, but then when we granted their petitions did not want them to enter U.S proper. They did not want to go back to China. I have no clue where they ended up or whether they continued to be held in detention while they looked for asylum.

But there seems to be some sort of political pretext for the attack. Perhaps someone can fill us in on what their ideology is and why they feel the need to go around slaying people with knives to try to get their way.


I'll answer Dino's question.

These are terrorist attacks from a Muslim minority. If it was anywhere but China, N.Korean, Russia then the Western media would report it as such. On of the reasons they may be knife attacks is that they're allowed to carry knives as part of their traditional ethnic dress, therefore symbolic.

The Western media prefers to call it blame these on people rebelling from the Chinese state as it lends itself to more anti-Chinese rhetoric. It's a good case of bad media reporting on how it wants to.

Anybody who thinks that anyone but armed police could have made a difference (ie; armed civilians would have saved lives) shows their pure idiocy and low intelligence.

Thanks to you both for the information. I became aware of these killings when they started happening in schools even if those knife attacks were separate from the train station attacks. So brutal.