Tianjin is cracking down on criminal activity which impedes local efforts to defeat the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) while meting out severe punishment to perpetrators.
Following an exhaustive manhunt, police nabbed 13 and detained nine individuals suspected of having engaged in assault and battery, destruction of property, theft and arson in Chagugang Town, in Wuqing District, during a violent protest held to express their opposition to the establishment of a local medical center for suspected SARS patients.
Those arrested include three individuals who, on April 27, organized a demonstration at the local middle school and township government building. Some of the demonstrators carried out criminal activity such as assault, destruction of property and theft. In addition, two policemen on patrol duty were severely beaten.
At the urging of police, several other demonstrators have turned themselves in to local judicial departments.
In a related development, police have taken three other persons into custody for impeding normal construction work on an epidemic medical unit in Hongqiao District.
On May 6-7, the three suspects incited more than 300 local residents to gather at the medical unit construction site and to use telephone poles and bricks to block the road leading to the medical unit.
They also forced the driver of a truck loaded with building materials to dump the materials onto the road, causing a severe traffic jam.
Police are in hot pursuit of the individuals who beat medical staff and destroyed treatment facilities in response to alleged delayed treatment in a hospital in Hedong District, leading to the death of a family member Tuesday night. The suspects fled the scene, leaving nearly 90,000 yuan in damages.
(Xinhua News Agency May 11, 2003)
