Didn't fireworks originate in China?
Posted on 02/25/2003 6:47:42 AM PST by NYer
BEIJING (AP) _ Two bombs exploded 90 minutes apart Tuesday at two elite universities in Beijing, injuring nine people, officials said. The explosions came at lunchtime in cafeterias at Peking University and Tsinghua University, both in northwestern Beijing.
Police were still investigating but believe both devices contained homemade gunpowder, said a Beijing police spokeswoman, who would give only her family name, Gao. There were no immediate claims of responsibility. The explosions came a day after a visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Colin Powell and a week before China's national legislature opens its annual session, but there was no indication the blasts were connected to those events.
In a country where guns are for the most part prohibited, violent disputes in China often involve explosives. The first explosion occurred in a teacher's cafeteria at the center of the Tsinghua University campus about 11:50 a.m., said a university spokeswoman who would not give her name. She said six people suffered leg injuries. The official Xinhua News Agency said witnesses could smell gunpowder after the blast.
At Peking University, three people were ``slightly injured'' in a second explosion in a dining hall about 1:20 p.m., a university spokeswoman said. She would identify herself only by the family name Zhang. Afterward, about 100 people gathered outside. The blast damaged the ceiling of the dining hall, shattered a glass door and blew out a second-story window.
The damage at Tsinghua wasn't visible from the street, and police prevented people from looking inside. Tsinghua University, one of China's leading science and engineering schools, is the alma mater of both Premier Zhu Rongji and Hu Jintao, the new Communist Party general secretary who is expected to be named president next month.
AP-ES-02-25-03 0844EST
Didn't fireworks originate in China?
Guns aren't "for the most part" prohibited in China. They're only prohibited for non-government people....
Why is that? Hmmmm........
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