Five people including a Philippine tourist were killed and 38 were
injured after a vehicle ploughed into crowds in Beijing's Tiananmen
Square Monday and caught fire, police said. The blaze sent clouds of smoke billowing into the air near a giant
portrait of Mao Zedong that dominates one end of the square, the site of
pro-democracy protests in 1989 which were brutally crushed by the
authorities.
Witnesses and reports said the SUV vehicle drove along the pavement
outside the Forbidden City, the former imperial palace, before
crashing-prompting speculation the incident was intentional.
Immediately afterwards a security operation swung into force on the vast square, the symbolic centre of the Chinese state.
"I saw a car turn a bend and suddenly it was driving on the pavement. It
happened fast but looked like it knocked people over," one eyewitness,
who did not want to be named, told AFP.
"I heard an explosion and saw fire. The scene was very frightening," he
added. "There were paramilitary police who told people to get back into
their cars and stop taking pictures."
Images posted on Chinese social media sites showed the blazing shell of
the SUV and a plume of black smoke rising near a portrait of communist
China's founder that hangs on the towering wall of the former imperial
palace, while crowds looked on.
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