Lethal knives banned on Beijing campuses to prevent violence

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-13 17:01

BEIJING - Beijing police on Thursday started lethal knives checks in schools and universities in an effort to prevent campus violence.

In the last two months, Beijing reported four stabbings in schools and universities, in which, a student and a teacher were killed and two students were injured. Knife fights have resulted in six deaths and 13 injuries across China this year.

The rising campus violence has prompted the city's public security and educational authorities to carry out checks over lethal implements which will last until December 20, said Liu Zhiguo, an official with the Xicheng District branch of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

The lethal knives, including 10-cm or longer daggers, flick knives and double-edged blades, are forbidden from sale around campuses. It is also forbidden to carry those knives on or around campuses.

"Some boys are afraid of being bullied so they have knives on them," said Liu, who is in charge of the checks on primary and secondary schools in Xicheng District, one of Beijing's downtown districts.

"But they are mistaken. Carrying a knife is more likely to involve them in fights."

Police will also give lectures, telling students it is illegal to carry those knives and calling on them to provide clues, Liu said.

According to China's law, illegally making, selling or carrying the banned knives will attract detention for up to 15 days with a fine of up to 200 yuan (US$30).

The latest campus violence in Beijing occurred on October 28 at the China University of Political Science and Law. A senior student named Fu Chengli burst into a classroom and cut the 43-year-old professor Cheng Chunming twice with a kitchen knife. The teacher died later in hospital. The murder's motive has not been made clear.

On September 18, a student was killed in a dormitory room over a dispute at the China University of Information in Beijing. On the same day, two students fought in a classroom at the China University of Petroleum, and one of them suffered many stab wounds on the head and the neck.