China on alert for unrest a month after quake

JUYUAN, China (AP) -- Police cordoned off schools destroyed in China's devastating earthquake one month ago from Thursday, apparently on alert for protests by parents demanding investigations into whether shoddy construction played a role in their children's deaths.

Police barred entry to at least two towns where schools collapsed, despite an assurance by authorities that unfettered media coverage would be allowed. In the town of Juyuan, a reporter from Singapore's Straits Times newspaper was detained by police and forced to return to the provincial capital of Chengdu, about an hour away.

About a dozen police and paramilitary troops guarded the gate of Juyuan's destroyed middle school, while a crowd of about 50 gathered outside. It wasn't clear whether any parents of dead children were present.

The security measures underscore how public anger over the deaths of so many children has unnerved authorities.

About 7,000 classrooms collapsed in the quake, often in areas where no other buildings were badly affected. Parents and some engineers tasked with surveying the wreckage say the collapses appear to point to poor design, a lack of steel reinforcement bars in the concrete and the use of other substandard building materials.

A month after the magnitude 7.9 quake killed nearly 70,000 in central China, Beijing is trying to switch the emphasis from destruction to rebuilding and tales of heroism in the rescue efforts. Watch a report on the state of affairs one month after the earthquake »

Security forces began clamping down after an initial openness to reporting on the quake and a mild approach to protests.

In the nearby city of Dujiangyan, police and troops barred even parents from entering the grounds of the ruined Xinjian elementary school.

One family knelt on the sidewalk in front, burning incense and pouring soda into cups as an offering to the dead. They declined to speak to a foreign journalist who slipped past roadblocks.

Jing Linzhong, the father of a child killed, said he arrived early in the morning, before security forces sealed off the area, to join other parents in a vigil on the school's playground. Jing said blocking parents from visiting the site could impede the healing process.

"It's unfair," said Jing as he sat with three other parents on the playground, surrounded by debris adorned with white funeral wreaths. "Some people are getting psychological counseling, but for us, we find it therapeutic simply to gather at the school and meet with each other. We have a lot in common."

Parents reached in the village of Wufu, where 270 children died in a collapsed primary school, said they were holding off on any commemorations or protests until the release of investigation results promised on or around June 20. The results may pave the way for lawsuits or trials against officials and private contractors involved. Watch a report on parents claims Beijing has tried to silence them »

Wufu parents Li Caojun and Ye Yaolin said they hadn't been threatened or intimidated, although the school site had been closed off by police. Other parents said they had been visited by police and believed their phones were being tapped.

No formal commemorations of the one month anniversary were being held in Beijing, although state television broadcast a gathering of quake heroes on Wednesday meant to showcase the massive aid effort.

In the traditional Chinese mourning cycle, the one-month anniversary of a death is less important than the fifth week, and some parents said they were considering holding ceremonies on June 15 -- the 35th day after the quake.

Weary survivors have once again been on the move, setting up tents and shelters on city sidewalks after being evacuated from the path of a threatened flood. Authorities had evacuated 250,000 people out of concern of a breaching of a lake that was formed when landslides blocked a river. Senior military leaders on Wednesday said the threat posed by the lake had ended now that it was draining.

While no large-scale disease outbreaks have been reported, evacuees in the temporary camps have been suffering from exposure, with 10 people recovering in a clinic from heat stroke and numerous cases of the common cold.

State broadcaster CCTV showed workers wearing white anti-chemical suits and face masks spraying disinfectant into rubble in the destroyed town of Beichuan, where hundreds of bodies remain buried under collapsed buildings.

China has ordered government departments to cut spending to free up reconstruction funds for the estimated 5 million people made homeless, few of whom had insurance.

Planning experts have recommended that more than 30 towns in the quake-hit areas, including Beichuan, be rebuilt elsewhere, according to Caijing, a leading Chinese business magazine.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

All About China • Sichuan Province