Rioters attack hospital in China after boy dies

Some 2,000 people mobbed a hospital in south-west China and clashed with police after a young boy died at the facility because his family didn't have enough money for treatment.

The boy was taken to the Hospital in Sichuan province by his grandfather on Tuesday after he accidentally swallowed some farming chemicals stored in an old soft drink bottle, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement.

Doctors told the grandfather that he didn't have enough money for treatment and asked him to go home and fetch more, it said.

When he returned, the boy, who, was between three and 4-years old, had died, the centre said.

It wasn't immediately clear what effort was made to treat the child.

Residents who heard about the case said the hospital should take responsibility and about 2,000 gathered at the hospital on Friday and clashed with police, it said.

At least 10 people were injured and five were detained by authorities, it said.

According to a local telephone operator, the demonstrators smashed windows and equipment and the six-story hospital was forced to close because doctors could not work amid the wreckage.

They also burned three police vans, she said, citing witnesses who were at the protest.

Today, armed police were patrolling Guang'an and roadblocks had been set up to monitor traffic in and out of the city, said the operator who refused to give her name because she was not authorised to speak to the media.