Jinan security guards train to respond to attacks

As security is beefed up across China, security guards in Jinan, Shandong province, are taking special training to ensure they can respond in a timely and effective way during attacks, to supplement police.

Supervised by the police authority, all guards at Jinan’s 31 security guard companies will join drills such as fire drills and anti-terrorism drills.

Qualified security guards are selected to form teams to cope with emergencies. Armed with equipment including shields, rubber batons and fire extinguishers, these teams are on duty daily at the places they are responsible for.

A special team composed of 42 security guards has been established by the Jinan-based Seven Soldiers Security Guard Company to help policemen maintain security at the Jinan Railway Station, Jinan Daily reported on Thursday.

Several attacks that took place in recent months have driven the nation to strengthen its security. The latest terrorist bombing in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on May 22 left 39 people dead.

On April 30, an attack at a railway station in Urumqi, left three people dead and another 79 injured.

In March, 29 civilians were killed and another 143 injured in an attack at a railway station in Kunming, Yunnan province.