Society
Man executed for east China kindergarten stabbing
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-30 10:27
 |
Large Medium Small |
NANJING - A man who attacked 29 children and three teachers with a meat cleaver last month in east China's Jiangsu Province was executed Sunday morning.
Xu Yuyuan, 47, was executed at 9:39 a.m. by the Intermediate People's Court of Taizhou City. He attacked the children and teachers at Zhongxin Kindergarten in Taixing City on April 29. Four of the 32 victims were severely injured.
Xu admitted his motive for the attack was to vent his anger against society after he had lost money gambling and in business and suffered setbacks in his personal life.
Xu appealed the death sentence, saying the punishment was too severe as no one died in the attack. But a higher court upheld the sentence citing Xu's intention to kill and the attack's brutality.
The death sentence was approved by the Supreme People's Court.
A string of attacks has shocked the country and school security has been tightened across China. Police nationwide have began a "thorough" inspection of schools and nurseries, especially private ones and those in rural and remote areas, to close security loopholes.
Police in Jiangsu have strengthened patrols around schools and kindergartens at times students go to or leave classes.
Students' parents in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu, have to swipe cards to pass an identity-recognition system before being able to enter their child's school.
"I do not feel inconvenienced swiping a card every day. It is necessary to protect our children," said Zhang Li, whose daughter attends a kindergarten affiliated to Nanjing Medical University.
In Beijing, the government is setting up a video surveillance system at schools connected to police emergency systems so police can quickly receive reports of incidents and timely deploy the nearest police officers to the scene.
In Shaanxi Province, all 17,623 kindergartens schools will have security guards stationed at schools. They are also being equipped with defensive weapons like rubber batons and anti-cut gloves. Students and staff are also learning self-defense skills.
Police would shoot school attackers when necessary, said Wu Heping, a spokesman for the Public Security Ministry.
"If someone dares to commit such a crime again, police will enforce the law firmly without hesitation in line with the Criminal Law and the police code for using guns and other weapons, " he said.
State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu has ordered police forces to cooperate with education authorities to more rigorously search for security risks near kindergartens and schools.