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04/21/10(Wed)15:19 No.692052Thousands
of others have refused to submit and officials are continuing to detain
relatives, including elderly parents, to force them to submit to
surgery. Those in detention are required to listen to lectures on the
rules limiting the size of families.
On April 10 The Southern
Countryside Daily reported on about 100 people, mostly elderly, packed
into a damp 200sq m (2,150sq ft) room at a township family planning
centre. The newspaper said: “There were some mats on the floor but the
room was too small for all people to lie down and sleep, so the young
ones had to stand or squat. Owing to the lack of quilts, many cuddled up
to fight the cold.”
Among those being held was the 68-year-old
father of Huang Ruifeng, who has three daughters. Mr Huang said:
“Several days ago a village official called me and asked me or my wife
to return for the surgery. Otherwise they would take away my father.” He
said that he was too busy to go and did not have confidence in village
medical techniques. In any case, he wanted his wife to give birth to a
son first.
An official at the Puning Population and Family
Planning Bureau, who declined to be identified, told The Global Times:
“It’s not uncommon for family planning authorities to adopt some tough
tactics.”
In Puning county couples with illegal children and
their relatives who apply for permits to build a house are rejected.
Illegal children are refused residency registration, a penalty that
denies them access to healthcare and education.
Authorities have
discovered, however, that those methods have less success than rounding
up relatives.
One official said that an investigation would be
launched to establish whether authorities in Puning had exceeded their
remit. |