The New York Times reports that parents whose children were killed in the Wenchuan earthquake have canceled a planned memorial service at the behest of officials:
In telephone interviews, the two parents said the group’s members were told not to contact one another and not to stay in the town of Juyuan, the site of the collapse of a middle school that left hundreds of children crushed to death.
Officials spoke to some parents on Wednesday night to persuade them to cancel the memorial service, said the two parents, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal by the government.
On Thursday, the government used buses to take different groups of parents to different sites outside town, the two parents said. There, the parents were given food and water.
Read also about how foreign journalists trying to report on bereaved parents are being treated by local officials, from James Reynolds’ blog.
See also “Earthquake and the Imperatives of Chinese Mourning” from China Beat, via CDT.
