Shanghai stampede officials 'held accountable' for accident that killed 36, says mayor
The Shanghai stampede on the Bund exposed failures in the system, says Mayor Yang Xiong
The Shanghai New Year's Eve crush that left 36 dead showed "critical neglect", the mayor of the mainland's commercial hub said yesterday, while insisting that those responsible had been held accountable.
New year revellers, many of them young women, were trampled after flocking to the historic waterfront area known as the Bund because of severe overcrowding and the lack of adequate safety measures.
"The New Year's Eve incident has exposed critical neglect and hazards in Shanghai's safety infrastructure," Mayor Yang Xiong told the annual meeting of the Shanghai people's congress, the local legislature.
"Those responsible have been held accountable to the fullest extent of the law," he said, reading from a prepared text. "We share people's grief and acknowledge guilt and responsibility."
City officials said on Wednesday that 11 officials were to be punished, with four removed from their posts, most from Huangpu district where the accident took place.
There has been no announcement yet of any intention to seek criminal punishment through the courts.
Relatives of the dead have called for higher, city-level officials to take the blame amid speculation the mayor himself could be implicated.
The mayor defended an official investigative report into the disaster which described the stampede as an "incident", which implies milder punishment and less compensation for those affected than classification as an "accident".
"We have produced an objective and impartial report according to the law," he said.
The families of the deceased will each receive 800,000 yuan (HK$1 million), which some have said is too low.
They have also called for greater accountability on the part of the government instead of just compensation.
Relatives of several victims have told the they have yet to receive the payouts and are still trying to negotiate with the government over the amount.
A police source, who declined to be named, said all the city's police officers were put on standby over the weekend in case of any "instability", including protests by victims' families, during the opening of the annual meetings of the municipal legislature and the city's political advisory body.
