Car runs over crowd, killing 5 in China.
In addition to the five dead, several people were injured on Monday when a car hit pedestrians and caught fire in Tiananmen Square, Beijing's most important square.
BEIJING, Oct 28 (Reuters) Five people died and several were injured on Monday when a car struck pedestrians and caught fire in Tiananmen Square, Beijing's most important square, according to police.
Hua Chunying, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said she did not have enough details about the case to determine whether it was an accident or a terrorist attack.
Police said on their Weibo page (a kind of Chinese Twitter) that the car left the road on the north side of the square, a major tourist attraction in Beijing opposite the Forbidden City, crashed through the barriers and caught fire.
The three occupants of the vehicle died, according to police. The Beijing municipal government reported that a tourist from the Philippines and a tourist from the Chinese province of Guangdong also died.
The Xinhua news agency said that 11 tourists and police officers were injured and hospitalized.
The incident occurred almost directly in front of the entrance to the Forbidden City, where there is a gigantic portrait of Mao Zedong, the founder of communist China. The vast square is also known for having been the scene of the pro-democracy demonstrations of 1989, which were violently repressed by the government.
The square usually has increased security due to its proximity to the Zhongnanhai complex, the headquarters of the central leadership, and the Great Hall of the People. Mao's mausoleum is also located there.
Even so, the place attracts many protesters, especially around June 4th, the anniversary of the crackdown on student protests in 1989. When this happens, the protesters are promptly dispersed by the police.
A Reuters witness saw fire trucks, ambulances and several police vehicles heading towards the fire, which produced a column of black smoke.
Part of the square and the main avenue leading to it were closed off.
A foreign tourist who was in the square and asked not to be identified said she heard an explosion, followed by a fire.
(Reporting by Maxim Duncan; Additional reporting by Megha Rajagopalan and Michael Martina)