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China's SARS tally jumps

China's SARS tally jumps

Chinese villagers torch planned SARS quarantine centre

Up to 2,000 villagers have torched a school earmarked as a SARS quarantine centre, ransacked government offices and overturned cars in China's first reported instance of social unrest related to SARS.

The mayhem in Chagugang town, a rural area not far from the heavily populated port city of Tianjin, happened on Sunday night after the Tianjin Goverment decided to convert a school into a SARS isolation facility.

"The plan was to transform the high school into an isolation centre," a Chagugang government official, who did not want to be named, said.

"When nearby villagers heard this they feared they would be caught by the disease.

"The head of the villagers explained to the people but they wouldn't listen."

He says about 2,000 angry residents marched to the school and ransacked it, smashing windows before setting it alight.

"They went to the school and burned the school. It can't be used any longer," he said.

"Then they went to the local education office and smashed it to pieces. Then they went to the town government office and smashed the whole building, breaking windows, removing doors and throwing them out of the windows.

"They broke in and smashed everything, overturned vehicles. All facilities are out of use now."

According to the official, armed police and anti-riot police arrived but by that time the villagers had run away.

"Today it is okay but at that time the situation was very serious," said the official, who estimated the crowd was 2,000-strong but that only a core of 30 to 40 people took part in the destruction.

"The rest cheered them on," he said.

Tianjin, 150 kilometres south-east of Beijing, has so far reported 43 severe acute respiratory syndrome cases, including two deaths.

It has also acknowleged 67 suspected cases.



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