Police arrest man after multiple people wounded in China knife attack

Police in southern China said they have arrested a man who wounded multiple people in a knife attack outside a hot pot restaurant.

Authorities received reports that the suspect, a 35-year-old surnamed Li, had carried out the attack in Guangzhou’s Panyu district at 5:20 p.m. on Monday (September 14), a police statement said later that evening.

Several people sustained “non-life-threatening” injuries, the statement added.

It did not give the number of victims or a suspected motive.

Footage of the incident posted online suggested the attacks took place in a shopping centre and showed at least three victims with wounds to their faces.

A video seemingly captured from CCTV showed a man in a face mask stabbing a woman in the face as he walked past her in front of a restaurant.

Another video showed police rushing into a shopping centre and pedestrians fleeing.

Police said they are investigating the case.

China has seen high-profile knife attacks in recent years, including in May when three people, including two Japanese citizens, were injured in an attack at a restaurant in Shanghai.

In November 2024, a former student of a vocational college in eastern China killed eight and wounded 17 in a knife attack after he failed his exams.