- Title: CHINA: Beijing residents call for Kunming attackers to be punished
- Date: 2nd March 2014
- Summary: OPEN NEWSPAPER ON KIOSK JINGHUA TIMES NEWSPAPER HEADLINE INSIDE THE PAPER READING (MANDARIN): "KUNMING TRAIN STATION KNIFE ATTACK: VIOLENT CRIMES CANNOT BE TOLERATED" JINGHUA TIMES NEWSPAPER HEADLINE INSIDE THE PAPER READING (MANDARIN): "BLOODY TERROR CANNOT DELAY THE SPRING OF JUSTICE"
- Embargoed: 17th March 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Crime,Conflict,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAAWB8H58M6SOX2CS1PTLBMUIEX
- Story Text: Some residents in the Chinese capital denounced an attack a train station on the other side of the country in which at least 33 died, including four of the assailants, who were shot dead.
China blamed militants from the restive far western region of Xinjiang on Sunday (March 2) for the attack in which over 130 people were injured.
Residents said the knife-wielding attackers should be punished.
"I think those terrorists are extremely evil. In a country ruled by law such as China, they might be punished severely," Feng Pengyuan, a 19 year-old student said.
"I think these sort of terrorists are really sort of an attack on society. I think the government should severely punish these terrorists and residents should really take measures to protect themselves when facing an emergency like this," 20 year-old student Chen Minghao said.
Police shot dead four of the attackers and detained one, Xinhua said, while approximate five others are on the run. It initially said five of the attackers had been shot dead.
Chinese microblog users took to the internet to describe details of what happened, though many of the posts were quickly deleted by government censors, especially those that described the attackers, two of whom were identified by some as women.
It is the first time people from Xinjiang have been blamed for carrying out such a large-scale attack so far from their homeland, and follows an incident in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in October which shook the country's Communist leadership.
The attack comes at a sensitive time as China gears up for the annual meeting of parliament, which opens in Beijing on Wednesday (March 5) and is normally accompanied by a tightening of security across the country.
Unrest in Xinjiang has killed more than 100 people in the past year, prompting authorities to toughen their stance.
Last week the government charged a prominent Beijing-based Uighur economist, who has championed the rights of this people, with separatism. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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