China vows to shoot 'without mercy' those who attack kids
Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily |
01:14 UTC+8 May 15, 2010
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CHINA said yesterday that its police will open fire on any future school attackers "without mercy" after the deadliest in a string of recent assaults killed seven preschoolers and two adults this week.
"If criminals dare to do this kind of thing again, we will act according to criminal law and firearms regulations, and without mercy," Wu Heping, a spokesman for the public security ministry, Wu Heping, told a news briefing in Beijing.
"Because being tolerant of this kind of crazy criminal behavior is a crime and is irresponsible to millions of people."
Earlier, Premier Wen Jiabao said that a spate of school killings in China has "deep-seated" roots in the country's social tensions which need addressing.
Wen made the comments to Hong Kong-based Phoenix television after a man in rural northwest China on Wednesday hacked to death seven young children and two adults following an argument over a kindergarten lease.
The attack was the sixth attack on schoolchildren by angry and apparently deranged men since March and prompted official vows to "strike hard" against the problem.
Wen told Phoenix late on Thursday that he "felt extremely distraught" at the children's deaths and that the country had to look into the reasons.
"As well as adopting vigorous safety measures, we also have to pay attention to addressing some deep-seated causes behind these problems, including dealing with some social conflicts and resolving disputes," Wen told the satellite television network, which broadcasts into Chinese mainland.
"We must strengthen the role of (dispute) mediation at the grassroots level. That's something we all have to work on," the premier said.
Police now will help resolve "social conflicts" at a time of transition in society and extremely rapid development, spokesman Wu told reporters.
"Through checking on and eliminating conflicts that arise at the grassroots level, and by showing concern for disadvantaged social groups, their difficulties should be resolved in a timely way," Wu said.
"For people with extreme thoughts or intolerant characters, the necessary psychological guidance should be put in place."
Psychiatric care in China, especially in the countryside, is limited or non-existent and the conditions in mental health wards are often primitive in the rural areas.
The Wednesday attacker had been depressed and psychotic and had attempted suicide at least twice in the weeks before the rampage, local police said.
There have been several attacks on schools in recent years. In the five previous school attacks since March, 18 people were murdered - all but three of them children - and more than 80 were injured.
Eleven children injured in the Wednesday attack remained hospitalized yesterday in the city of Hanzhong.
The attacker, 48-year-old Wu Huanming, killed himself after returning home after the Wednesday morning mayhem in the farming village of Linchang on Hanzhong's outskirts in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Speculation on the motive for the attack has centered on a spiraling dispute between Wu Huanming and the school's administrator, Wu Hongying, to whom the attacker had leased the school.
China bans nearly all citizens from owning handguns, and the attackers used knives, cleavers and a hammer.
Triggers for the attacks have included pent-up grievances over lost jobs, business failures, broken relationships, and a new home that officials had ordered torn down.
Wu also said police have stepped up security near schools around the country and will work particularly to check on and improve protection at privately run institutions and particularly vulnerable schools, including ones in poorer areas.
The kindergarten at which the attack took place on Wednesday was privately run.
Security forces will focus on "strike hard, vigilance, and management," he said, adding that offenders would be tried under Chinese law, but treated without mercy.
"If criminals dare to do this kind of thing again, we will act according to criminal law and firearms regulations, and without mercy," Wu Heping, a spokesman for the public security ministry, Wu Heping, told a news briefing in Beijing.
"Because being tolerant of this kind of crazy criminal behavior is a crime and is irresponsible to millions of people."
Earlier, Premier Wen Jiabao said that a spate of school killings in China has "deep-seated" roots in the country's social tensions which need addressing.
Wen made the comments to Hong Kong-based Phoenix television after a man in rural northwest China on Wednesday hacked to death seven young children and two adults following an argument over a kindergarten lease.
The attack was the sixth attack on schoolchildren by angry and apparently deranged men since March and prompted official vows to "strike hard" against the problem.
Wen told Phoenix late on Thursday that he "felt extremely distraught" at the children's deaths and that the country had to look into the reasons.
"As well as adopting vigorous safety measures, we also have to pay attention to addressing some deep-seated causes behind these problems, including dealing with some social conflicts and resolving disputes," Wen told the satellite television network, which broadcasts into Chinese mainland.
"We must strengthen the role of (dispute) mediation at the grassroots level. That's something we all have to work on," the premier said.
Police now will help resolve "social conflicts" at a time of transition in society and extremely rapid development, spokesman Wu told reporters.
"Through checking on and eliminating conflicts that arise at the grassroots level, and by showing concern for disadvantaged social groups, their difficulties should be resolved in a timely way," Wu said.
"For people with extreme thoughts or intolerant characters, the necessary psychological guidance should be put in place."
Psychiatric care in China, especially in the countryside, is limited or non-existent and the conditions in mental health wards are often primitive in the rural areas.
The Wednesday attacker had been depressed and psychotic and had attempted suicide at least twice in the weeks before the rampage, local police said.
There have been several attacks on schools in recent years. In the five previous school attacks since March, 18 people were murdered - all but three of them children - and more than 80 were injured.
Eleven children injured in the Wednesday attack remained hospitalized yesterday in the city of Hanzhong.
The attacker, 48-year-old Wu Huanming, killed himself after returning home after the Wednesday morning mayhem in the farming village of Linchang on Hanzhong's outskirts in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Speculation on the motive for the attack has centered on a spiraling dispute between Wu Huanming and the school's administrator, Wu Hongying, to whom the attacker had leased the school.
China bans nearly all citizens from owning handguns, and the attackers used knives, cleavers and a hammer.
Triggers for the attacks have included pent-up grievances over lost jobs, business failures, broken relationships, and a new home that officials had ordered torn down.
Wu also said police have stepped up security near schools around the country and will work particularly to check on and improve protection at privately run institutions and particularly vulnerable schools, including ones in poorer areas.
The kindergarten at which the attack took place on Wednesday was privately run.
Security forces will focus on "strike hard, vigilance, and management," he said, adding that offenders would be tried under Chinese law, but treated without mercy.
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