Riot police quell protest over school collapse

Riot police detained more than a dozen parents on Tuesday morning as they tried to disperse a crowd of hundreds who lost children in school collapses during the May 12 earthquake, the Wall Street Journal reported. Parents had gathered outside a local government office in Mianzhu City, Sichuan province, to hear the results of an investigation into why so many school buildings failed to withstand the quake. The parents said they waited in vain for a report to be made public before the riot police arrived at around 11am. In recent weeks, local authorities have stepped up efforts to stifle protests regarding the school collapses for fear that China’s image will be damaged ahead of the Olympics, the paper reported. The government has said the quake destroyed nearly 7,000 classrooms and dormitories.