China’s local govts step up public safety measures after attacks

BEIJING: Local authorities in China are stepping up safety management and police patrols following several high-profile mass killings, as the central government calls for enhanced public security, media reports said on Sunday.

In the eastern city of Wuxi, where a 21-year-old student’s stabbing spree left eight people dead and 17 injured on Nov. 16, local officials convened on Friday to discuss measures to maintain social stability, state-run local media reported.

Campus safety was a focus point of the meeting, according to the report. These safety initiatives come nearly two weeks after the deadliest mass attack in China in a decade on Nov. 11, when a man reportedly upset over his divorce settlement drove into a crowd in the southern city of Zhuhai, killing 35 people.