Pubdate: Sun, 26 Jun 2005
Source: China Daily (China)
Contact:   http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/911

10,000 TAKE TO STREETS IN BEIJING ON ANTI-DRUG DAY

Some 10,000 people marched through Beijing's streets Sunday to support 
China's anti-drug day, as the nation burned illegal caches of heroin, hash 
and other drugs seized by police, an official and state media said.

China Central Television showed police in several cities setting fire to 
large urns filled with drugs, including a cache of 10 million yuan (US$1.2 
million) worth of narcotics in the southern city of Nanchang.

Marchers in Beijing wore matching white visors and pastel-colored raincoats 
and chanted slogans as they marched about 20 kilometers (12 miles) through 
a morning downpour from the Summer Palace in the city's northwest into the 
center of Beijing.

About 10,000 were estimated to have taken part, said a female official with 
the Information Office of the Beijing Anti-Narcotics Office reached by 
phone who would only give her surname, Zhong.

Anti-drug day is part of a renewed official crackdown on the illegal drug 
trade.

There were some 791,000 known drug addicts in China at the end of last 
year, according to the Chinese government.
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