APRIL 30, 2003 WED
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Villagers riot against 'Sars ward'

Chinese authorities had plans to turn a school in a Tianjin village into a Sars ward but scrapped them after violent protests

By Chua Chin Hon

CHAGUGANG (Tianjin) - Plans to convert a school in this sleepy town into a Sars ward were scuttled after angry villagers overturned cars, thrashed a local government office and set ablaze construction materials at the school.

The mayhem on Sunday night was believed to be the first case of civil disorder related to the escalating Sars crisis in China, and resentful villagers yesterday reflected widespread paranoia about the disease that has claimed 148 lives in the country and infected 3,303 people.

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'We don't have a single person infected with Sars here, and the government is thinking of bringing the disease here?' seethed an angry woman working at a funeral parlour in the town located between Beijing and the northern port city of Tianjin.

'The government should be bringing investments here. Instead they are bringing such a frightening disease. Are they out of their minds?'

Eyewitnesses told The Straits Times that about 2,000 to 3,000 villagers confronted their leaders on Sunday night after learning of plans to turn a four-storey secondary school into a ward for isolating people suspected of having been in contact with Sars patients.

Villagers alleged the school was taken over forcibly, and that teachers and students were told to leave on Saturday without being given a reason.

An elderly man even knelt down in front of the town's leaders to beg them to overturn the decision, but to no avail, they added.

The crowd then marched to the school, smashed the windows and set ablaze all the building materials there.

'We burned everything, everything,' said a man in his 30s, who like everyone in the village who spoke to The Straits Times, did not want to be identified nor have his photograph taken.

They also overturned several cars and thrashed a local government office.

Villagers said 11 truckloads of paramilitary police arrived to quell the violence, arresting about two dozen suspects.

The special force left on Monday night, though policemen maintained a strong presence there when The Straits Times visited.

Tianjin officials insisted yesterday that they had cancelled plans to build the ward on Sunday afternoon after learning that the villagers were against it.

'But at 6 pm, under the instigation of several people, many villagers smashed the windows and doors of the school and a government office,' said a spokesman for the government of Tianjin, which has reported 44 Sars cases and two deaths.

He added that only a few dozen villagers were involved in the rioting, and no one was arrested, though about 10 were questioned and released.

'The issue has been settled and the villagers have calmed down,' he said.

Meanwhile, state media reported yesterday that local governments have been given sweeping powers to help them contain the Sars outbreak.

China Daily reported that officials can now 'close down industries, businesses and classes, temporarily take over homes and vehicles, and isolate water supplies polluted by infectious diseases'.

Beijing reported 152 new Sars cases yesterday, bringing its total to 1,347 cases and 66 deaths.

  
 

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