Authorities appeal for calm after attacks on schools

Taixing, China : A Chinese city shaken by one of three back-to-back attacks on schools stepped up security and urged its citizens to "trust the government" on Saturday, a day after parents of the injured children protested outside a local hospital.

A dozen police and security guards patrolled the lobby of the Taixing city People's Hospital the morning after marching parents chanting "We want the truth" asked to see their children and demanded a better government response to the crisis. Photos and video posted online showed hundreds of people massed outside the hospital on Friday night, pushing so hard to get in that they shattered a glass door.

The school attack in Taixing came on Thursday when a 47-year-old unemployed man armed with an 20-centimetre knife wounded 29 students aged 4 or 5 — five of them seriously — plus two teachers and a security guard.

Reassuring message

The city government tried to ease fears in a mobile phone text message sent to citizens yesterday.

"No one has died, and all of the parents have seen their injured children," the government said.

"Citizens please trust the government, don't believe rumours," the text said.

A parent of one of the four children still in intensive care confirmed that he and other parents had been able to see their children on Friday and yesterday. Xin Feng, the father of a 4-year-old boy, said parents had no plans for further protests. A government employee was handing out compensation to families yesterday, but Xin said he didn't look to see how much his family received.

"We don't want the government money. We just want the children to be OK," he said, adding that parents also want a reasonable explanation from the government as to the vicious attacks.

"When I walked into the ICU this morning, my son recognised me but couldn't talk," Xin said. "He looked so helpless."

The anger and fear come after three classroom assaults in three days across China. The government issued an urgent order on Friday for schools to tighten security, and armed police will patrol schools in the capital, Beijing, when classes resume on Tuesday after the May Day holiday.

The attack in Taixing came a day after a 33-year-old former teacher broke into a primary school in the southern city of Leizhou and wounded 15 students and a teacher with a knife..

Then on Friday, a farmer used a motorcycle to break down the gate of a primary school in the eastern city of Weifang and struck five students with a hammer before killing himself.

Chinese schools have had five such attacks in just over a month — unusual in a country where extreme violence is comparatively rare.