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China plans security 'moat' around Beijing: state media

Eighteen dead in China chemical explosion: state media
Eighteen people died and 10 others were injured on Wednesday in the east of China after a chemical explosion, state media said. The explosion occurred when workers in Linyi city, Shandong province, were unloading chemicals from a truck in the afternoon, the official Xinhua news agency said, adding it caused a fire which was extinguished 30 minutes later. Seven people died at the scene and 11 others succumbed to their injuries after being rushed to hospital, the report said. It was not known what chemical it was and an investigation is underway, the report said.

China quake survivors take to streets
Survivors of the deadly Sichuan earthquake took to the streets in southwestern China, witnesses and a rights group said Thursday, protesting low compensation for their soon-to-be demolished homes. "Around 200 people sat on the side of the road and blocked traffic and many policemen surrounded them," a businessman who refused to be named told AFP from Mianyang city, near the epicentre of the May 2008 quake in Sichuan province. The protesters live in Beichuan -- one of the worst hit areas of the quake -- where a new town is being built, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said. According to the rights group, thousands of houses and temporary homes are to be torn down to make way for the new town and the government has given residents too little money to rent other places, leaving some homeless. A waiter in a restaurant near the protest, which took place Wednesday close to the building that houses Mianyang prefecture's government, said he saw the quake survivors walking on the road flanked on either side by police. "I heard there were some fights," he said, but could not provide further details. The local police refused to comment and the Mianyang government was not immediately reachable. The town of Beichuan was devastated in the earthquake that struck Sichuan province on May 12, 2008, leaving nearly 88,000 dead or missing in total.
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Sept 2, 2009
China plans to create a "moat" around Beijing for its National Day festivities on October 1 as part of a massive security crackdown ahead of the sensitive anniversary, state media said Wednesday.

The report by Xinhua news agency is the latest indication of official jitters over potential unrest or political disturbances marring the carefully choreographed celebration of 60 years of Communist rule.

China has been battening down the hatches in Beijing in the run-up to the holiday, which will be marked with a military parade and mass performances.

Thousands of additional police have already been deployed in the capital, stepping up security checks on key sites such as the subway system and monitoring vehicles entering and leaving the capital.

But the Xinhua report said the security clampdown also had been expanded to the six provinces and regions that surround the capital, as well as the eastern metropolis of Shanghai and the restive regions of Tibet and Xinjiang.

"Tens of thousands" of People's Armed Police (PAP) -- the country's main domestic security force -- would spearhead the operation, it said.

"Armed police troops in Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning and Shandong, which surround Beijing, have also been ordered to tighten security measures and to act as the capital's moat," the report said.

China typically cracks down on politically sensitive anniversaries to prevent any activities by groups critical of the Communist Party's rule.

But the government appears particularly nervous ahead of the 60th National Day following deadly riots that rocked Tibet last year and the mainly Muslim Xinjiang region in July, as well as a rising tide of social unrest nationwide.

The deployment of the PAP marks its first large-scale mission since the legislature last week passed a law designating it as the lead force in putting down the periodic explosions of often violence unrest.

The PAP had long performed such duties but the law's passage was seen as a long overdue clarification made necessary by the rising number of incidents.

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China taps paramilitary force to handle unrest: state media
Beijing (AFP) Aug 27, 2009
China on Thursday passed a law officially tasking the country's main domestic security force with putting down often violent incidents of social unrest, state media reported. The People's Armed Police, whose units are stationed nationwide, had already acted in that capacity for years, but the new legislation is being seen as an overdue clarification prompted by mounting internal security ... read more







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