China Stabbings Spur Public Call For School Security

[Justin Joseph]

China Stabbings Spur Public Call For School Security

BEIJING (Reuters) - A knife-wielding man attacked pupils and parents outside a primary school in southwestern China, killing a boy and an older woman and reviving public calls for better school security, state media reported.

Two other adults and three pupils were injured in the attack outside the school in Hepu in the Guangxi region on Monday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The suspect, who was described by police as mentally ill and about 40 years old, was in police custody, the local propaganda department was cited as saying.

It was the second school stabbing case in a month and follows a series of stabbings at Chinese schools and universities in recent years, leading to public appeals on websites and in media for an examination of the root causes.

A commentary by the official China Youth Daily said that in addition to beefing up security at schools, the government should offer more psychological consultations across the country.

Last month, a doctor who had been dismissed killed eight children and injured another seven on their way to school in eastern Fujian province.

In 2008, a student stabbed to death a law professor at an elite Beijing law school after he suspected the professor of having an affair with his girlfriend.

(Reporting by Huang Yan and Lucy Hornby; Editing by Ken Wills)

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/04/13/world/international-uk-china-stabbings.html

 

[Justin Joseph]

Man with cleaver rampages near China school, 2 die

BEIJING — A mentally ill Chinese man rampaged with a meat cleaver near an elementary school, hacking to death a second grader and an elderly woman, the local government said Tuesday. Five others were wounded in the second random attack on schoolchildren in China in three weeks.

Yang Jiaqin, 40, chased his victims through Xizhen village of the southern Guangxi region not long after classes ended Monday afternoon.

He first attacked the boy, Wu Junpei, who later died from his injuries and two other schoolboys, who were just a quarter-mile (400 meters) away from their school gate, according to a statement on the Web site of Beihai city, which oversees the village.

He then attacked a couple, a 7-year-old girl and the 81-year-old woman who later died. Three of the wounded were in serious condition, two with skull fractures and one with a spinal injury, the statement said.

Yang was detained by police.

The attack came one day before Yang's family was scheduled to send him to a hospital for psychological treatment. He had been diagnosed with a mood disorder and had undergone treatment three times since 2005, the statement said.

Last Friday, he attacked a villager whom his father had quarreled with, breaking down the door at the man's home and beating him, the statement said. He tried to get into the same house before Monday's attack, but the door was locked. He then killed the family's dog and their neighbor's dog, it said.

The attacks come after a similar crime that shocked China, when a former medical worker stabbed eight children to death on March 23 as they stood outside the gates of their elementary school in southern Fujian province. Zheng Minsheng reportedly said in court that he had been rejected by a woman and treated unfairly by her wealthy family, and admitted to "intentionally killing" the children.

Zheng, 41, was sentenced to death earlier this month.

China has witnessed a number of school attacks in recent years, leading to calls for improved security.

Liu Shanying, an associate researcher with the Institute of Political Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said such attackers often feel left behind by society, while others are psychologically troubled and unable or unwilling to receive proper treatment. They target children because they are the most vulnerable.

"In some places, mentally ill people are just left hanging around because the hospitals need money to take care of them and the families can't afford it," Liu said, calling for better social programs to help those with psychological problems.

"If the current conditions don't improve, similar incidents will happen again and it will be not only a tragedy of individuals or individual families, but a tragedy for society as a whole," he said.

In the aftermath of Monday's attack, dozens of paramilitary police forcibly took away the body of Wu, the second-grader who died, and beat relatives who tried to resist them, said the boy's uncle, Chen Wenjian.

The police did not give an explanation to the family when they came Tuesday morning, saying only "We've come for the body," Chen told The Associated Press. He said the paramilitary police beat him and the boy's father and sister as they protested the demands to turn over the body.

It was not clear why the paramilitary police would want Wu's body. In China, the bodies of victims in sensitive crimes are sometimes taken away by authorities to prevent further outcry or protests from the families, though it's not known if that was the reason in this case.

Calls to the Beihai city government and police went unanswered Tuesday. A man surnamed Luo in the press office of Beihai's Communist Party office referred reporters to the statement on the city Web site.

Associated Press researchers Zhao Liang and Yu Bing contributed to this report.

The Associated Press: Man with cleaver rampages near China school, 2 die

 

[Justin Joseph]

^^^^^^^^

What the hell, how China can do this????

They don't hand over the dead body of victims to their famalies for creamation.

Just to make sure no one can protest with it.

It is inhuman and cruel.

 

[below_freezing]

It is a public health threat. They are OBVIOUSLY protesting over it, otherwise why the HELL is there this news article? This was given top coverage in our media.

Also, I find it funny that you find time to attack our government over treatment of someone already dead, instead of grieving for the victims. I guess rich upper class indians are used to seeing dead children.