Syringe Attacks in China: Did they actually happen?

Last week there were mass demonstrations in the Chinese city of Urumqi following what were described as a wave of "politically motivated syringe attacks." But now people are questioning how many syringe attacks actually happened, and were any of them politically motivated? From the Toronto Star:

The government said more than 500 people claimed to have been attacked, but only 170 show any signs of injury. Of those, 22 were being monitored and none were expected to suffer repercussions, it said.
"It seems more like mass hysteria than reality to me," observed Groot.
Even China's state-run Xinhua News Agency dialled down its reporting of the alleged attacks.
"Some of those who said they had been stabbed actually suffered from mosquito stings and other psychogenic reasons," Xinhua said.
Other agency reports noted that of the four people officially charged last week, most were drug addicts involved in acts of plain criminality.

Mass Delusion

Posted on Tue Sep 08, 2009


Comments

It sounds like the 1980s rumor about people booby-trapping movie theater seats or gas-pump handles with AIDS-contaminated needles has finally reached the Chinese hinterlands.
Posted by Big Gary  on  Tue Sep 08, 2009  at  10:51 AM
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