The driver who raided the government building with his heavy equipment in China caused chaos

In Xi'an, the capital of northwestern China's Shaanxi province, a 47-year-old man drove his heavy equipment onto the government building.

The police detained the suspect at the scene, who removed the entrance sign of the building and destroyed the front stairs with his work machine.

According to the information provided by Xi'an police, no one was injured in the incident that took place around 11:00 local time on the morning of November 9.

The public service center, where citizens and businesses in China carry out their licenses, registrations or other bureaucratic procedures under one roof, started working again in the afternoon.

EVEN IF THE SECURITY CONFIRMED THE INCIDENT, THEY DID NOT EXPLAIN THE REASON

According to the BBC channel, Xi'an Police Department shared only the surname of the suspect, which is Hu, in a written statement in the evening.

Stating that Hu deliberately damaged public buildings with his work machine, police authorities applied "criminal coercion measures" against the suspect, which includes detention and judicial control practices at the investigation stage in Chinese law.

However, the police statement did not include any information about why Hu targeted the building.

DAMAGE TO AT LEAST SIX STRUCTURES ON THE CAMPUS

Chinese media announced that the attack took place at the Fengdong New City public service center operating in Xi'an, the new development region on the periphery of Xi'an.

In the images posted on social media, it can be seen that the excavator, with its bucket arm in the air, stopped right in front of the main entrance and ripped off a large part of the huge entrance sign, dropping it to the ground.

According to local media reports, the square stairs of building number 1 in the campus were completely broken, while the rear facade of the same building and other surrounding blocks and additional structures were also damaged.

In the center, where at least six buildings in total were damaged, police teams set up a security strip, examined the crime scene and collected evidence.

The transactions, which were disrupted due to the attack, returned to normal when some toll booths reopened around 15:00 local time.

COMPENSATION CRISIS OR UNPAYED RECEIVABLES?

Two different claims stand out regarding the background of the incident.

According to the news of The Online Citizen portal, an official from the Fengdong New City management committee stated in his statement to the Chinese media that the incident took place at 11.23 local time and that the attacker took this action because he found the expropriation compensation paid for a destroyed livestock farm insufficient.

The official noted that the extent of material damage has not yet been determined.

Social media users brought up a different claim that has not yet been confirmed by independent sources.

Users claimed that the action was a protest by a construction equipment operator who could not collect his receivables arising from construction works.

According to these allegations, many calls for help were made to collect previously unpaid fees from an account thought to belong to the suspect on Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok.

In the posts in question, the account owner explained that he has not been paid for the excavation work he did in the housing project called "Greenland Xinlicheng" since 2025.

These claims of the user, who stated that he could not get any results despite repeatedly conveying his grievance to the central inspection boards and the national petition authorities that evaluate the public's complaints, were not mentioned in the official statement of the police.