Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/cnforbiddennews Like us on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/chinaforbiddennews 《神韵》2015世界巡演新亮点 http://www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org/ A stampede in Shanghai during the New Year's Eve celebration ended 36 lives on the the last day of 2014. The count of the injured also increased to 49 on 2 Jan. After the stampede, besides questioning whether the authorities concealed the casualties and censored news, all parties have kept questioning Shanghai government accountability, and even directly called for Han Zheng, the Party Secretary of Shanghai, to step down. The stampede in Shanghai's Bund area brought shock and grief to the new year, people spontaneously came to Chen Yi Square with flowers, and expressed their condolences to the victims. As this accident happened during the New Year's Eve celebration, many Chinese believe it's a bad omen. However, Shanghai citizens claimed that the Shanghai government has controlled and censored media reports, trying to convert this bad thing into a not-too-embarrassing "good thing". Shanghai resident, Zheng Jianming: "Shanghai television stations are the most low-key, while television stations from other provinces have given more detailed reports about the accident than us. Shanghai TV reports are simple as a picture, there is no video recording at the scene." Shanghai human rights activist, Gu Guoping: "They just said many heroic deeds occurred during the rescue process, such as the staff are dedicated, rescue teams are dedicated." "As such, a bad accident has converted into a good thing, the nature of the accident has been concealed as well as how the accident should have been avoided." How did the stampede happen? Could it be avoided? Shanghai police still do not give any statement. People said that someone tossed club vouchers that look like US dollar bills, which then triggered looting and eventually the stampede. However, the next day, mainland media reported that the place where the vouchers were thrown is sixty meters away from the stampede, and it happened after the stampede occurred. Several Shanghai residents believe that the lack of security preparation is the main cause of the tragedy. Shanghai resident, Mr. Tang: "The security work was indeed negligent. It is very sad to see a stampede occur in a big city like Shanghai." Gu Guoping: "I feel this is a management problem, there is no proper specification, the stairs should only be walked in one direction when it is very crowded. A stampede will certainly happen when a crowd walks in opposite directions." "Therefore, it is a management problem, we are still discussing this matter, it should not happen." There are several reasons why this accident "should not have happened." One is that the Bund area did not hold the lightshow like it did in previous years. BBC's Chinese website stated that, it is reported that many people did not know about this. People entered the Chen Yi Square found that there was no lightshow and wanted to leave, so there was congestion with those who were still trying to enter the viewing platform. The second reason is that the Shanghai authorities underestimated the flow, and did not prepare for it. The third reason is the lack of police and resilience. Cai Lixin, the deputy of the Command Center at Huangpu Public Security Bureau has admitted: that night the flow of people at the Bund area exceeded "National Day Golden Week", but police manpower was less. Only when the crowd began to jam, were 500 officers deployed to the area. Hence, there are many voices questioning Shanghai government's accountability, many netizens even ask Yang Xiong, the Mayor of Shanghai, and Han Zheng, to step down. Gu Guoping: "Han Zheng should not worry about people asking him to resign, he should take the initiative to resign, because he is responsible for such accident." Even CCP media like "Xinhuanet" published articles continuously to question the government's accountability. On Jan 1st, "Xinhuanet" quoted from Zhang Hong, security management specialist at Public Security University, stating that the fundamental reason is government negligence. In fact, public information had revealed danger signals, but they were being ignored by the governor. Taiwan "udn.com" published an article on 2 Jan, which believes the stampede will cause a large upheaval in Shanghai official circles. Shanghai Municipal Government and its related units did not have good crowd control, and they are the main cause of this accident. Shanghai Municipal Government and Municipal Public Security Bureau leaders are directly responsible. With Xi Jinping in power, many people are expected to step

• published: 03 Jan 2015
• views: 148