Ten parents of vaccine victims from northern provinces were allegedly beaten and arrested about noon Monday protesting at the gate of the Ministry of Health.
Nine remain in police custody while one was released Tuesday afternoon.
The parents had traveled from Henan, Shandong and Liaoning provinces to the capital city demanding an answer about their children who fell ill from improperly stored vaccine shots (See Global Times report on June 28). No parent has received any feedback on poten-tial compensation.
They stood at the gate 50 meters south of Xizhimen subway station, Xicheng district, demanding to meet the health minister. The parents on Monday tied themselves together with a 20-meter long chain, after Luo Weiwei, a father from Liaoning Province, was snatched and sent back to his hometown on Thursday after wandering away from the group for a few minutes.
"They'll grab you if you're alone," said Yi Wenlong, father of Yi Lingling. Lingling, 15, was diagnosed with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, a brain and spinal cord condition thought to be an allergic or immune response to receiving the A and C groups of the meningitis vaccine in Shanxi Province in December 2006.
Some unknown men in "black training suits" drove up in a van about noon on Monday and demanded he get in, Yi said. Their relationship to the police remains unclear.
"They refused to show us any form of identification and so we refused to get in the van," Yi said. The parents were forced into the van and Yang Yukui from Liaoning Province suffered a broken rib and a broken pinky finger.
The parents were held in an interrogation room in Zhanlanlu Police Station, Xicheng district. Police took Yang to the hospital, took an X-ray of his broken rib and brought him back to the station, according to Yi Wenlong and Sun Hongli, mother of a 6-year-old boy from Shandong Province also suffering encephalomyelitis.
The police told parents they had been arrested for "blocking traffic," Yi said.
The chief of Zhanlanlu Police Station surnamed Xu refused to comment on the story.
Yi's wife Ren Jifeng was released Tuesday about 3 pm. "I was not protesting. I was only taking pictures," she said. The others remain in custody.
"We could be released tomorrow," Yi said. "We could be here for the next year and half."
Nine remain in police custody while one was released Tuesday afternoon.
The parents had traveled from Henan, Shandong and Liaoning provinces to the capital city demanding an answer about their children who fell ill from improperly stored vaccine shots (See Global Times report on June 28). No parent has received any feedback on poten-tial compensation.
They stood at the gate 50 meters south of Xizhimen subway station, Xicheng district, demanding to meet the health minister. The parents on Monday tied themselves together with a 20-meter long chain, after Luo Weiwei, a father from Liaoning Province, was snatched and sent back to his hometown on Thursday after wandering away from the group for a few minutes.
"They'll grab you if you're alone," said Yi Wenlong, father of Yi Lingling. Lingling, 15, was diagnosed with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, a brain and spinal cord condition thought to be an allergic or immune response to receiving the A and C groups of the meningitis vaccine in Shanxi Province in December 2006.
Some unknown men in "black training suits" drove up in a van about noon on Monday and demanded he get in, Yi said. Their relationship to the police remains unclear.
"They refused to show us any form of identification and so we refused to get in the van," Yi said. The parents were forced into the van and Yang Yukui from Liaoning Province suffered a broken rib and a broken pinky finger.
The parents were held in an interrogation room in Zhanlanlu Police Station, Xicheng district. Police took Yang to the hospital, took an X-ray of his broken rib and brought him back to the station, according to Yi Wenlong and Sun Hongli, mother of a 6-year-old boy from Shandong Province also suffering encephalomyelitis.
The police told parents they had been arrested for "blocking traffic," Yi said.
The chief of Zhanlanlu Police Station surnamed Xu refused to comment on the story.
Yi's wife Ren Jifeng was released Tuesday about 3 pm. "I was not protesting. I was only taking pictures," she said. The others remain in custody.
"We could be released tomorrow," Yi said. "We could be here for the next year and half."
