Beijing: Police beat, shocked and detained 11 people suffering from HIV-AIDS who were trying to protest in front of China's premier, a Beijing-based activist said today.

The Aizhixing Institute's Wan Yanhai said the protesters, who all contracted HIV through blood transfusions, were attacked on Saturday in front of the municipal government building in Shahe, a town in Hebei province outside Beijing.

Wan said the protesters were beaten with clubs, shocked with electric prods and sprayed in the face with an unknown substance that caused them to lose consciousness. He said they were taken to a hospital and later detained.

Wan said the 11 had hoped to draw the attention of Premier Wen Jiabao, who was visiting the area, thinking he could help them receive compensation from the hospital where they contracted HIV from tainted blood in the mid-1990s.

Wan said the local court has repeatedly refused to accept the group's case against the hospital, and the local government has failed to follow through on a pledge to support them, he said.

Wang Weijun, a friend of the 11,said three women were later released on condition they drop their complaint against the government and not talk about what happened to them. The remaining six men and two women had not agreed to those conditions, Wang said.

A man who answered the phone today at the Shahe police department said he had no information about the incident. He refused to give his name as is standard among Chinese police officers. The hospital had no listed telephone number.

HIV gained a foothold in China largely due to tainted blood transfusions in hospitals and unsanitary blood buying schemes. Although the government acknowledges responsibility in the transfusion cases, victims still have trouble receiving compensation.

Source : PTI