Anger Escalates Among Grieving Parents in China

BEICHUAN COUNTY, China — Hundreds of grieving parents blocked the road into a flattened town yesterday as police sought to quell a rising wave of public anger over schools that collapsed in an earthquake a month ago and killed thousands of children.

Volunteers were detained, schools were cordoned off, and reporters were barred from the premises in at least two other towns in a sign of the government's resolve in controlling the press and potential unrest.