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Dujiangyan: Angry parents whose children were killed in an earthquake-stricken school continued to chant slogans when police forcefully removed them from a protest outside a courthouse.
The police action was the clearest signal yet that authorities are hardening their stance against the impromptu displays of public anger over the May 12 earthquake that collapsed schools and killed thousands of children.
The students' deaths have become the focus for Chinese, both inside and outside the quake zone, fuelling accusations about corruption in school construction.
The brewing public anger has become a political challenge and threatens to turn popular sentiment against the authoritarian government as it copes with aiding millions displaced by the disaster.
Aggrieved parents and even rescuers have pointed to steel rods in broken concrete slabs that were thinner than a ball point pen among the 7,000 classrooms that were destroyed.
The government has taken some steps to try to help grieving parents. On Tuesday, Beijing began giving compensation to some families whose children were killed — about $144 per year to each parent who lost an only child. The Ministry of Civil Affairs also announced that parents who had lost their only child had first priority in adopting children orphaned by the disaster.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the quake rose Tuesday to 69,107 and relief efforts continued in the sprawling disaster zone.
Thousands of soldiers searched for a military helicopter that crashed Saturday near the epicentre, with 14 injured quake victims and a crew of five aboard.
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