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Student Post 雙語學生郵報


Anger over alleged police mishandling of teacher's death sparks riots in southern China (4:32 p.m.)



Crowds angered by alleged police mishandling of a school teacher's death attacked government offices in a southern Chinese city, sparking arrests and beatings by riot troops, newspapers and a local hospital said Monday.

Students and local residents of Rui'an's Tangxia township claimed police falsified a report and colluded with the husband of high school English teacher Dai Haijing, 30, to have her death classified as a suicide, according to Hong Kong newspapers Ta Kung Pao and The South China Morning Post.

The demonstrators also staged a protest at the husband's factory where they damaged cars and other property.

The protests reflect widespread perceptions that China's weak and largely opaque legal system is tainted by communist officials' abuse of power and susceptible to influence by the country's newly moneyed classes.

An administrator answering phones at Rui'an City People's Hospital on Monday said more than one dozen people had been admitted for treatment following Friday's violence, which broke out after police were sent into the public square in front of city hall. The woman refused to give her name or other details about the incident.

A clerk who answered the phone at Rui'an city hall confirmed the protest, but refused to say how many people had been involved or give any other details.

"It is all under investigation," said the man, who refused to give his name as is common among Chinese officials. "We didn't get much information about this," the man said.

An administrator at Dai's Rui'an No. 3 Junior High School said the school was not commenting on Dai's death or the protests. However, the woman, who refused to give her name, said students had been ordered to attend classes on Sunday, an apparent attempt to block further protests.

The newspaper reports and an account of the protests posted on the Internet said the students initially staged a silent protest march last week after local media published the results of the police investigation.

Demonstrations then snowballed, eventually drawing thousands of participants who smashed glass and overturned cars.

Dai was found dead on Aug. 18 outside her apartment and the police report said she committed suicide by jumping from her fourth-floor apartment window. The report said Dai had been suffering from marital problems and depression, citing entries in her journal and medication found in her apartment.

However, Dai's family and students suggested she may have been murdered. They said she showed no signs of being suicidal, and had written in her journal about suffering physical abuse by her husband, Xie Delong, a wealthy local businessman. The police report said nothing about the alleged abuse.

Telephones rang unanswered at the Tangxia police department.

Mainland China's entirely state-controlled media has not reported the Rui'an protests, a sign of the regime's anxiety over all unauthorized demonstrations.

 
 
 
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