BEICHUAN COUNTY, China — Hundreds of grieving parents blocked the road into a flattened town Thursday as police sought to quell a rising wave of public anger over schools that collapsed in an earthquake a month ago and killed thousands of children.
Volunteers were detained, schools were cordoned off, and reporters were barred from the premises in at least two other towns in a sign of the government’s resolve in controlling the media and potential unrest.
Despite assurances by authorities that unfettered coverage would be allowed, dozens of police and paramilitary troops guarded the gate of Juyuan’s destroyed middle school as a crowd of about 50 gathered outside. Outside a primary school in Dujiangyan, police and soldiers also stood guard to keep out parents and journalists.
The security measures underscore how much the public fury over the deaths of so many children is unnerving Chinese authorities.
Their attempts to rein it in contrast sharply with the relative openness Olympics-conscious Beijing displayed at the start of the disaster.
Across the quake zone, tempers flared among parents as they marked the passing of one month since the May 12 quake.
“We’re dispirited. Our children have been dead for a month,” said Wang Ping, whose 16-year-old daughter was killed when Beichuan Middle School collapsed. “I’m 40. All our hopes were in our children. Now they’re dead. Our future is dead, too.”
