Police cordon off earthquake-damaged school

Chinese police blocked access today to a school that collapsed in last month’s earthquake, a day after they broke up a protest by parents of students who died in the disaster.

A cordon of police held back reporters and others gathered at the Juyuan Middle School on the edge of Dujiangyan in Sichuan province. More than 270 students died when the school collapsed in the May 12 earthquake.

Yesterday, police broke up a group of parents protesting outside a Dujiangyan courthouse over the loss of their children.

The police action was the sternest response so far by authorities toward dozens of aggrieved parents who had been holding impromptu gatherings and memorial services to vent their anger.

The students’ deaths have become the focus for Chinese, both inside and outside the quake zone, fuelling accusations about corruption in school construction.

Thousands of students were killed in last month’s earthquake, in which the confirmed death toll has passed 69,100.

Angry parents and even rescuers have pointed to steel rods in broken concrete slabs that were thinner than a ball point pen among the 7,000 classrooms that were destroyed.

“Oh, my child!” one woman wailed as officers took the arms of the Juyuan school parents gathered outside the courthouse yesterday. “Tell us something!” other parents shouted as police led them away.