School attacks: China vows to act firmly

BEIJING - Police in China will not hesitate to use guns and other firearms to prevent attacks on schoolchildren, a top official has said, after a string of assaults on kids in the past two months left 15 dead and over 60 injured.

Police will enforce the law “firmly”, including thorough inspection of schools and kindergartens and patrolling before and after the school period, Wu Heping, spokesman for the ministry of public security, said Friday.

“If offenders dare to attempt such crimes again, the police will enforce the law firmly without hesitation, in line with the Criminal Law and police code of using guns and other weapons,” Wu was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

A 48-year-old man hacked seven children and two adults to death at a kindergarten in Shaanxi province Wednesday, while in March, a mentally unstable 41-year-old doctor killed eight elementary school children in Fujian province’s Nanping city.

Twenty-eight children were stabbed April 29 by a 47-year-old unemployed man at Zhongxin Kindergarten in Taixing city in Jiangsu province. A day before that, 16 primary school students were stabbed by a mentally unstable 33-year-old man at Leicheng First Primary School in Guangdong province’s Leizhou city.

A farmer from Shangzhuang village in Shandong province, immolated himself April 30 after viciously hitting five kindergarten children and a teacher with a hammer at a school.

Police would conduct thorough inspection of schools, especially private ones and those in rural and remote areas, to minimise security loopholes, Wu said.

They will patrol around school compounds ten minutes before students arrive and ten minutes before they are dismissed.

Schools have also been asked to tighten security checks, he said, asking all citizens to report suspects to the police.