China is suppressing coverage of deadly attacks

BEIJING — Late last month, a car struck children near an elementary school in an outlying district of Beijing, according to a Chinese news report.

A four-sentence police statement said a 35-year-old male driver hit pedestrians due to “improper operation” of the car. It didn’t mention the school or that the victims included children. Photos of the aftermath, which showed a half-dozen people lying in the street, were scrubbed from China’s closely controlled internet.

“We need the truth,” said one post on Weibo, a leading social media platform similar to X.

The ruling Communist Party has expanded information control since leader Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, seeing it as a way to prevent unrest. More and more topics, from negative news about the economy to LGBTQ+ identity, have become subject to some form of censorship. In the past half year, mass attacks — in which a person kills or injures multiple people with a vehicle or knife — appear to have been added to the list.

Some people in China are pushing back, complaining online in at least two cases in recent months after drivers hit pedestrians.

The government may be trying to prevent copycat crimes, experts have said. Another motivation could be local authorities wanting to cover up when they fail to do so.

There was a spate of attacks last fall, but it’s difficult to gauge whether they are increasing, given the dearth of information.

The attacks weren’t always a taboo topic. In the past, authorities released the basic details. Typically, the assailant was described as taking out their anger on society, often over financial losses.

That appears to have changed following a particularly horrific case in November that killed 35 people in Zhuhai in southern China. Authorities said the driver was upset about a divorce settlement. Orders came from the very top — from Mr. Xi — to take steps to prevent similar attacks.

Eight days later, an SUV hit students arriving at an elementary school in Hunan province. The number of injured — 30 children and adults — wasn’t made public until nearly a month later when the driver was sentenced.

The clampdown on information has tightened further since. In April, reports circulated online that a car had run into people outside a primary school in Jinhua city. At least three provincial state media outlets posted stories — but they were quickly taken down. To date, authorities haven’t released any information.

Twelve days later, a fast-moving car veered off a street and into people at a bus stop in the city of Tengzhou in eastern China.

Authorities said nothing. Videos of the May 4 crash were taken down from social media. The next day, online criticism of the silence began to appear. People said the police should release basic information such as the driver’s identity and the number of casualties. A few defended the police, saying it happened on a holiday.

The details came out 48 hours after the crash. Six people had died, and it had not been an intentional attack: The driver was drunk, a state media report said.

Since then, local authorities, at least in two cases in Beijing, seem to be taking a new approach: Issue a report quickly but with scant details.