Two Dead in Forbidden City Knife Attack
Two employees of the Forbidden City were stabbed to death by a colleague around noon today. The attacker, a 49-year-old Beijing local surnamed Zheng, is in critical condition after a botched suicide attempt, according to Sina News. The attack occurred in a cafeteria at the Palace Museum after a dispute broke out between the three.
Beijing Police posted on their Sina Weibo account late in the afternoon that they received a 110 call from the palace. Police arrived and found two wounded. The victims were soon proclaimed dead by paramedics. The attacker was apprehended in an adjacent office. He was found with self-inflicted wounds and taken to hospital.
Police cars and ambulances flooded the scene at the southeastern corner of the Forbidden City near Jinghuamen, or the East Glorious Gate. Jinghua Times posted that 120 emergency vehicles were counted driving in and out of the gate.
The Forbidden City is one of Beijing's largest tourist attractions and drew an average of 40,000 visitors per day in 2012. There is still no information on whether or not any sections of the landmark will be closed over the weekend. Please stay with the Beijinger for confirmation. The South China Moring Post noted they were unable to reach the museum for comment Friday. A bomb attack at Beijing International Airport last summer was tidied up quickly and flight operations resumed in just a few hours.
This is but one in a series of widely reported stabbings in Beijing this year after knife attacks in Chaoyang Joy City, a Carrefour supermarket and on the subway. This is also the first stabbing at a Beijing landmark since a tourist was killed at the Drum Tower during the 2008 Olympics.
A ban on the sale of knives was enacted after this summer's string of violence, but unfortunately that drastic measure seems to have done nothing to prevent today's tragedy.
