Police deny arresting parents over lead case
- Source: Global Times
- [01:39 September 04 2009]
- Comments
By Song Shengxia
Authorities in Wugang, Hunan Province yesterday denied a media report that said police detained 15 parents who protested outside a factory many blamed for giving 1,000 children lead poisoning.
"No parents were detained. There were indeed 15 people who participated in the protest and gave themselves up to the police after the protest," Kang Wenxiang, chief of the Wugang Public Security Bureau, told the Global Times yesterday.
Kang said police are investigating whether Falun Gong members instigated the August 8 protest in which about 1,000 villagers blocked a road and overturned a police car.
They demanded the closure of a local unlicensed smelter, Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant, which they blamed for sickening 1,300 children.
The Associated Press claimed that 15 protesters were detained and cited a notice from the Wugang Public Security Bureau on Tuesday that read: "Fifteen people who participated in the August 8 protest have surrendered to or been held by the police for blocking the traffic, attacking government offices and damaging public property."
The notice also claimed that a small group of protesters were probably instigated by people with "ulterior motives" as well as by Falun Gong members.
"The wording of the notice may be a bit misleading," he said. "But we never detained them. We just asked them to explain what happened that day and set them free."
Kang said detaining parents didn't make sense.
"How can we detain parents? The sick children need them most at this time," he said.
However, the police investigated whether Falun Gong members were involved.
"Residents and officials in the Wugang area have received phone calls from people outside the town who were suspected of Falun Gong members," Kang said.
"Falun Gong members did take advantage of the protest to mislead innocent people," he said, adding that investigations into the incident are ongoing.
Some parents yesterday said they never heard of the detention, or anything about Falun Gong members' possible role in the protest.
"I've never heard Falun Gong members have a hand in the protest and I have no idea if any parents were arrested," said Xiao Aijun, a local taxi driver.
"I just want more compensation for my daughters, who are respectively 5-year and 10-month-old," Xiao said in a telephone interview.
After the lead poisoning incident became known in late July, local police detained two of the company's senior executives, Deng Qingguo and Yi Jianhua.
The Wugang government shut down the smelter on August 13 and started an initiative to compensate parents whose children were sickened as a result of high levels of lead in their blood.
"Children with more than 250 milligrams of lead are offered free treatment and compensated 40 yuan ($6) per day," Zeng Zhaoxun, an official with the Wugang government who supervises the treatment of children, told the Global Times.
"Those with between 200 milligrams and 249 milligrams of lead are offered compensation of 150 yuan ($22) per month for a five-month duration," he said.
He said he has been supervising the effort.
"We cannot say every parent is satisfied with our offer, but we will try our best to make them happy," he said.
The government's response has drawn praises from some parents and medical workers.
"I was really overwhelmed by the government's quick reaction to the incident. The compensation has been paid in time and my child's condition has improved," Li Xiangcheng, a parent of another poisoned child, told the Global Times.
Grassroots medical workers agreed that there were no arrests.
"There were no arrests," Wang Jinhua, a doctor at a medical center in Hengjiang village, told the Global Times. "And to be fair, the local government has done enough to cope with the incident," she said.
