--DOPE.....--

--Sichuan earthquake anniversary--

Parents of victims told not to hold memorials
~
Parents of the children who died during last year's earthquake in Sichuan have been threatened with imprisonment if they hold memorials for their dead on May 12th, the one year anniversary of the disaster.
~
The government has released figures stating that 5,335 school children died when the 7.9
magnitude earthquake hit the south-western province. Most perished when their schools collapsed.
~
Anger over the number of children killed and the government's failure to hold an inquiry into the reason why almost 12,000 schools were destroyed or damaged has been rising ahead of the sensitive first anniversary of the earthquake, which left 70,000 dead and another 18,000 missing.
~
In an attempt to silence protests, some parents have been detained in so-called 'black jails', or unofficial prisons, for up to 21 days. Now, though, they have been threatened with longer jail terms if they attempt to commemorate their children.
~
"The police visited me earlier this week and said that if we stage a memorial, then we won't just be temporarily detained, but we might go to prison for a few years," said Luo Guoming.
~
Mr Luo had been planning to hold a memorial on May 12th for his 16-year-old daughter Luo Dan at the site of the Juyuan Middle School near Dujiangyan, along with some of the other parents of the estimated 300 children who died when the school collapsed last May. But the land where the school once stood is now surrounded by barbed wire and parents and journalists have been forbidden from approaching it'.
~
~
~http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5294397/Sichuan-earthquake-anniversary-Parents-of-victims-told-not-to-hold-memorials.html