Chinese man rams car into US Consulate in Shanghai, hurts 1

BEIJING — A Chinese man rammed a car into a barrier in front of the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai and injured an armed police officer, officials said Friday.

Shanghai police said the man, identified as 35-year-old Liu Daojie, was placed in custody and told officials that he felt he was being chased by assassins and wanted to get some attention.

Liu was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the incident late Thursday, and the case was still under investigation, police said on their official microblog site.

Felix Salazar, spokesman for the consulate, confirmed the incident and said the consulate was open for business as normal on Friday. He said it had no further details to provide because the matter remained under investigation.

Shanghai's government said Liu's wife told police that he had refused to leave home for about a month over fears of being assassinated, and that a doctor had told him not to fantasize.

She said they went to get medical treatment for him in Suzhou and he had left their hotel on Thursday afternoon saying he had to do some business, the city government said in a statement.

All foreign embassies and consulates, as well as major Chinese government buildings, are guarded by armed paramilitary police.