Three children injured in knife attack at Zurich daycare

As per title, I’m surprised no-one’s mentioned it yet. Any Swiss sites got more info on possible motive etc.?

Probably because there is nothing to discuss before we know the reasons of this awful act.

3 Likes

Very surprising the young age. I can imagine older people having time to become jaded, but 23 seems very young.

Tom 1234 posted it in the ‘Another day another stabbing’ thread.

Utterly harrowing.

Horrible violence.

Beyond that…silence, even no speculation from Blick.

What is completely unnerving to me, is that I used to live quite close by, and my oldest is at that age. Had we stayed there, it is highly likely that could be my kid’s group… WTF is wrong with people, every week my wife is sending me links and stories about people calling kids to their cars, trying to take kids, now this?

Following the silence from Police, speculation arises.

Correlation is not causation, but interesting anyway. The NZZ publishes this:

Increase in knife attacks in China

The investigators are also likely to be concerned with a phenomenon in the alleged perpetrator’s country of origin in the investigation that is now underway. The authorities in China have been battling an increase in knife attacks in educational institutions for some time. Although security measures in schools have been massively increased in recent years, such attacks continue to occur in kindergartens, schools and universities.

In most cases, the attacks are carried out with knives, and occasionally with chemical agents or explosives. There are no official statistics on this. Based on media reports, the NZZ counted at least 32 such attacks between 2010 and 2023.

In most cases, the mass murderers in China are not students, but men between the ages of 20 and 40. The perpetrators often suffer from mental illness. The perpetrators vent their personal disappointments, frustration or social isolation in the form of violence against the weakest in society.

20min is a bit more adventurous:

According to sinologist Björn Alpermann, the knife attack is not an isolated case: “Such attacks have increased in China in recent years, especially during political celebrations or nationalist commemoration days.” It is conceivable that the perpetrator was looking for a stage for his attack during the national holiday. Protests held in conjunction with political events often elicited a strong response.

The attack was not an isolated incident, but part of a chain of similar events at home: in June, for example, there was a knife attack on Americans in north-east China and another on a Japanese mother and her child in Suzhou. A Chinese woman who defended those attacked was killed. As recently as September, a teen-year-old Japanese man was attacked with a knife in southern China and died. And on the eve of National Day, there was a knife attack in a supermarket in Shanghai that left three people dead and 15 injured.

Children would also be targeted in rampages in China, as they have a particularly high status in society: “For many families, their entire lives revolve around the well-being of their children, with the aim of giving them a better life - and securing their parents’ pensions. Especially in cities, where single children are often raised alone.” Losing a child is a great tragedy in any culture - but in China it has an even greater impact due to the social importance of children. Children are therefore attacked in order to hit a sore spot and cause a stir.

So, not as frequent as school shootings in the US, but something is happening in China.

Disenfranchised young men with no outlet to vent their frustrations?

As the economy in China tanks, I’d expect more of these kinds of attacks.

Maybe he or his lawyer have asked the police to not share any details of the investigations until the case will be finalised.

Fortunately the press here is not a bunch of speculators like in othe countries, with nothing better on their hands than having informants inside the police and report every little crime that happens.
(btw, obviously this is a horrific crime but the police is probably not done with the investigations)

1 Like

It is the job of journalists to report the news.

I wouldn’t call a stabbing of children a “little crime”.

I edited my post because I realised it wasn’t clear what I am referring to; you can read now that I didn’t refer to this horrific crime, I referred to a specific kind of journalism you are so fond of.

Yes, it is a horrific, despicable crime but as I said, the police is probably cautious with releasing info.

Where did I write something which suggests that?

I did write that because suicides of young people are not reported in the paper, some Swiss people do not think they happen here. Fact.

Are you suggesting news should only be released filtered through official sources and not through the free-press?
You do know the Iron curtain is down, don’t you?

Lol, I can’t discuss with you.

I did not suggest anything like that, I only said that the police is not done with the investigations hence “silence” is a ridiculous word.

I know. Do you?
And why do you have to be so aggressive and literally insert words and ideas people don’t express, every little time someone writes anything here?

4 Likes

The stories are reported but I think the difference is that they don’t have the same gossipy speculation and catalogue of irrelevant detail (value of the victim’s house, where they always holidayed and accompanying pics pilfered from the victim/victim’s family social media). This is the kind of thing the UK gutter press loves to print but I’m glad the press here maintains a certain dignity.

Not fact. Speculation.

3 Likes

Exactly!! I don’t want all the speculations that I read in other countries (didn’t even think of UK tbh, there is a tabloid style that I find revolting)

1 Like

No, I was told it by Swiss people who believed it. That’s fact. They were wrong. That’s fact too.

Why is this concept so difficult for you to understand?

I read a full spectrum of UK press as well as Swiss press and the difference is quite stark. UK press will go through your trash looking for a nugget of gossip. :laughing:

2 Likes

Maybe because it’s an unsubstantiated anecdote that fits your narrative? Nothing against unsubstantiated anecdotes but don’t try to extrapolate them as “facts” that generalise a section of society.

That works? Just remembering the guy who kept hostages in a train near Yverdon-les-Bains in Vaud. The story of how someone already identified with mental health issues slipped through the cracks of the system was reported by journalists. It’s an open question if some actions are taken after the information was published. But, at least the info became public.

Won’t go into much detail, but during my time in the university in CH one student committed suicide. The graduate student community is not the healthiest one. Stress, loneliness, isolation, culture shock, low income/resources…what a cocktail. I’d say this is some relevant information missing in the reporting.

I didn’t realise I needed to do a public survey every time I posted anything.

Perhaps you should do the same?