The particular grievances of the ethnic Uygur family that drove through a fence into Tiananmen Square, ploughing through crowds of tourists before setting the vehicle ablaze remains unknown. A police investigation is continuing and at least five arrests have been made in what is believed to be a terrorist plot.
Whatever the perceived injustice was, though, it is now of no consequence. Those who target the lives of innocent people for the sake of a cause do not deserve a fair hearing; their actions can only be condemned.
There can be no disputing the motive of the apparent suicide attack was maximum shock value. Tiananmen Square is the symbolic heart of the nation, and its cultural and political center. Nowhere in China is as popular with tourists. When the attack occurred just after noon Oct. 28, all seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee were at an event in the nearby Great Hall of the People, where the Communist Party will hold its third plenum from Nov. 9 to 12.