China: 4 stabbed at Shanghai hospital, Police open fire

In China, four people at a renowned Shanghai hospital were wounded by a knife-wielding assailant on Saturday, in the second reported stabbing incident after a COVID-19 lockdown of the financial hub was lifted early in June. Hospitals are a flashpoint for many in China, who face issues from touts illegally trading appointment tickets, long queues to see doctors, and corruption that can push up the cost of receiving care.Reports of patients assaulting doctors are also common. At the Shanghai hospital, police found a man holding a crowd hostage with a knife on the seventh floor of the outpatient department. When the man threatened to hurt the hostages, the police opened fire, subduing him, according to local police. Huangpu district police said on social media that they received emergency reports at 11:30 am on Saturday of a stabbing at downtown Ruijin hospital."The police quickly arrived on the scene and discovered a man holding a group of people hostage with a knife on the hospital's seventh floor," the statement said. .None of the wounded is in a life-threatening situation and the incident is being investigated, the police said.Ruijin Hospital has been cordoned off, and all appointments cancelled, a police officer told onlookers outside.

Mass violent crime is rare in China, which strictly prohibits citizens from owning firearms, but knife attacks do happen occasionally. Last month, a 23-year-old man in the eastern city of Ningbo died after being violently stabbed on the street in broad daylight. Video of the attack near a bus stop went viral on social media. In recent years, a string of fatal knife attacks targeting kindergarten and school students have occurred nationwide, carried out by people reportedly wishing to wreak revenge on society.