Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. China News .




SINO DAILY
HK pro-government activists rally against Occupy protest
by Staff Writers
Hong Kong (AFP) Aug 17, 2014


China gang forced children to donate blood: Xinhua
Beijing (AFP) Aug 16, 2014 - Police arrested seven people in northwest China allegedly involved in a scheme that forced school children to donate blood, state media reported.

The arrested are the deputy chief of a blood centre operated by a company in Gansu province, whose surname was given as Huang, and six jobless men, the official Xinhua news agency reported late Friday.

The company, Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products in the city of Wuwei, is one of the country's biggest producers of blood products, the report said.

According to the report, a friend of Huang's surnamed Zhang and some of Zhang's friends forced primary and secondary school children to go to the centre to donate blood, Xinhua said, citing an unnamed official with the public security bureau in Wuwei's Liangzhou District.

Blood can legally be donated in China from the ages of 18 to 55, Xinhua said.

At least eight pupils, who ranged in age from 10 to 16, were compelled to donate blood at least once a month for seven months, the official said, with the group taking in 6,250 yuan ($1,000).

The suspects would use false identification cards at the centre to pretend that the donors were adults, the official said.

A duty officer at the public security bureau in Wuwei's Liangzhou district reached by AFP on Saturday would provide no confirmation or details.

China National Radio quoted Li Yongming, a propaganda official with the Wuwei police, as saying that both the number of children and the monetary amount involved could increase.

Blood centres in China must double-check a donor's identity before taking blood, the report said.

Huang, the centre's deputy chief, told police he was under pressure to increase the number of donors and sought Zhang's help, Xinhua said.

The gang beat the children to make them cooperate and the scandal came to light when one of the them sought assistance from his parents, the report said.

Thousands protested in Hong Kong Sunday against plans by pro-democracy activists to paralyse the city centre with a mass sit-in unless China grants acceptable electoral reforms.

Public discontent in the semi-autonomous Chinese city is at its highest for years, with concern at perceived interference by Beijing and growing divisions over how Hong Kong's leader should be chosen in 2017 under the planned reforms.

Pro-democracy campaigners from the Occupy Central group have pledged to mobilise protesters to block roads in the Central financial district later this year if authorities reject the public's right to nominate candidates for the chief executive post.

But the movement has been strongly criticised by Beijing and city officials as illegal, radical and potentially violent.

Organisers of Sunday's rally, the Alliance for Peace and Democracy, say the silent majority of the city's seven million residents do not support the Occupy movement.

"We want to let the world know that we want peace, we want democracy, but please, do not threaten us, do not try to turn this place into a place of violence," alliance co-founder Robert Chow told AFP.

Organisers said more than 120,000 people had signed up to indicate they would attend the rally. Thousands wearing red clothes and waving Chinese flags filled the starting point in Victoria Park when a march began shortly after 1:30 pm (0530 GMT).

"I am here to oppose Occupy, as simple as that. It is a bad thing for young people," a 70-year-old retired chef, who only gave his surname Wong, told AFP.

"I don't know how to give a view on democracy, it's high-level politics. I just know if there is no peace there is no prosperity," a 40-year-old construction worker surnamed Kwok told AFP, while holding a Chinese flag.

But some participants in the afternoon march, attended by several groups with ties to different Chinese provinces, were unsure why they were there.

"I come here to play, to buy things" a participant identified as a tourist by Cable Television news said when asked why she was attending the rally. She was promptly led away by a man who refused to answer questions.

An 18-year-old Shenzhen resident who had arrived in the city that morning told AFP he "was not very sure" why he was taking part, and only attended because his friend had asked him to.

- 'Shrine for peace' -

Chow said the Occupy movement had "stepped over the line".

"What they are trying to say is that if China does not bow to them, then they will occupy Central, they are going to turn the whole place into some sort of a battleground," he said.

The British colony was handed back to China in 1997 under an agreement that guarantees freedoms and civil liberties including the right to protest.

Hong Kong's leader is currently chosen by a pro-Beijing committee.

China says that all residents will be allowed to vote for the next chief executive in 2017 but that a nominating committee must choose the candidates.

Pro-democracy advocates say this means Beijing will be able to ensure a sympathetic slate of candidates.

An unofficial referendum organised by Occupy activists saw the majority of 800,000 people who voted supporting reform packages that would allow public nomination.

Organisers said a July pro-democracy march following the referendum was joined by over half a million. Statisticians from the University of Hong Kong estimated between 122,000 and 172,000 people took part.

In a counter move, an Alliance petition campaign supported by pro-Beijing groups and officials has so far collected some 1.4 million signatures, according to the group.

"I am... opposed to using illegal means including 'occupying Central', which is designed to be illegal, to achieve universal suffrage," Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying told reporters Friday after signing the petition.

.


Related Links
China News from SinoDaily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SINO DAILY
China issues draft property registration rules
Beijing (AFP) Aug 15, 2014
China on Friday published a draft of long-awaited property registration rules, a move expected to stabilise the real-estate market and help crack down on corruption. Real estate taxes based on a national registration system of property ownership are regarded as an effective way to curb speculation, as the government seeks to rein in years of surging house prices - a source of resentment for ... read more


SINO DAILY
Bald ambition: Chinese county exports human hair to Africa

Foreign investment in China slumps in July: govt

US dominates Chinese world university rankings

Judge rejects Silicon Valley anti-poaching settlement

SINO DAILY
Trees and shrubs invading critical grasslands, diminish cattle production

Shipwreck yields 200-year-old bottle of drinkable booze

Statistical model predicts performance of hybrid rice

Make your mobile device live up to its true potential - as a data collection tool

SINO DAILY
Activists urge DR Congo to do more to stop illegal logging

Ex-rebels accuse DR Congo army of executing PoWs

Three Pygmies 'mutilated and killed by Katanga militia'

UN tells DRCongo rebels to disarm or face military action

SINO DAILY
Mercedes-Benz accused of 'price-fixing': China media

BMW's Chinese dealers fined over price-fixing

Energy, Army departments working on EV efficiency

Saab car maker NEVS reported in default

SINO DAILY
Westinghouse to Provide Finland's TVO with Advanced Reactor Internal Pumps

Canada, Kazakhstan start nuclear cooperation

EDF Energy says shuts down nuclear reactors in Britain

Fukushima operator unveils newest tainted-water plan

SINO DAILY
China launching 'severe' cyber attacks on Taiwan: minister

China tightens controls on Internet messaging apps

General Dynamics Fidelis joins CrowdStrike Intelligence Exchange

Judge rejects Microsoft's defense of overseas data

SINO DAILY
Pope visits S. Korea with Asia in his sights

Beijing hits out at US South China Sea proposal

Swiss bar Russian display team from air show due to Ukraine crisis

US reassures China as 2,500 Marines head to Australia

SINO DAILY
Juwi Will Build 50-Megawatt Wind Farm in Uruguay

Moventas Exceed high torque density 3 MW gearbox to be piloted

Commercial wind projects reviewed offshore North Carolina

Japan's Marubeni gets capital for Westernmost Rough wind project




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.