Thousands of people watched as a court in China sentenced 10 people to death for drug-related crimes, murder and robbery, in a public sports stadium in the city of Lufeng, The Guardian reported. They were all taken away soon after to be executed, the South China Morning Post reported.

Seven of the 10 were convicted for drug-related crimes, the others of murder and robbery.

Local media reported that an official notice on social media invited residents from the area to attend the sentencing. The accused men were brought to the stadium in police trucks. They were made to stand on a stage with four police officers behind each of them, the South China Morning Post report said.

Across the stadium, posters with slogans of the country’s campaign against drugs were put up.

While China carries out several executions a year, such public trials and sentencing were rare, until a few years ago, The Guardian report said. Five months ago, eight people were sentenced to death for drug crimes and executed, after a similar public trial in the same town. Lufeng has become the focus of a drug crackdown, after a large drug bust in 2014 when the police confiscated three tonnes of crystal meth, the report said.