Hong Kong ( CNN ) -- A wheelchair-bound man who set off a homemade explosive inside Beijing Capital International Airport over the weekend was a petitioner airing grievances , Chinese state media reported . The man , identified as 34-year-old Ji Zhongxing , was hospitalized after suffering injuries to his arm , which were not considered life threatening , state-run news agency Xinhua said . The agency said Ji set off the explosive at the airport 's Terminal 3 on Saturday evening after he was stopped from handing out leaflets `` to get attention to his complaints '' outside the arrival hall . He then warned people nearby to get away before setting off the device . No other people were injured and flights at the airport were not affected . The man from Heze city , in Shandong province , said on his personal blog in September 2006 that he had been attacked and beaten by security guards outside a police station in 2005 after carrying a passenger on his motorcycle . He was paralyzed after the incident and petitioned for official compensation . The attack took place while Ji was working in Dongguan , a factory town in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong . Guangdong provincial authorities said on Sunday that they would look into the alleged unjust treatment , The China Daily reported . However , the newspaper also reported that Dongguan police said Ji was not attacked and was instead injured when he fell off his motorcycle . Police in Ji 's home county said Dongguan authorities gave him 100,000 yuan ( US $ 16,290 ) in compensation in 2010 . His family did not know about the bomb plot , Xinhua reported . A witness to the explosion told the Beijing Youth Daily that Ji did not throw the bomb after activating it but held it in his hands . Photos posted on the Chinese social media site Sina Weibo showed a man in a peach shirt holding aloft a white device . Subsequent images showed thick smoke billowing through the terminal . Authorities say the device was similar to fireworks , Xinhua reported . The man 's plight attracted some sympathy online . One user of the Twitter-like Weibo with the user name @ Daidaibell said : `` He would only do it because they cornered him . If there 's other way , he would n't go to such an extreme . '' In China , people often petition local and national authorities about their grievances . In previous cases , frustrated petitioners have taken violent action . One man , Yang Jia , had tried to file a complaint about his treatment by police . In 2008 , he stormed a Shanghai police station and killed six police officers . He was executed later that year . CNN 's Zhang Dayu , Feng Ke and Steven Jiang contributed to this report from Beijing .
A man in a wheelchair detonates a homemade explosive at Beijing airport . The man suffered minor injuries , but no one else was injured . Man was airing grievances related to an alleged beating in 2005 . Comment: