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Three people in Beijing have been detained for refusing security checks and attacking officers at a subway station. They are the first group of people subject to such punishment since the city started checking subway passengers about one year ago, police said yesterday.

The detention comes amid tightened security measures in the capital ahead of the National Day celebration on October 1. Police are calling for more cooperation from passengers to avoid similar confrontations.

The three people, surnamed Xia, Ye and Huang, entered the Wudaokou station of subway line 13 last Thursday. They turned down a check request from security officers, quarreled with them and even pushed an officer to the ground, a release from the city's public security bureau said.

They have been given detention for a period of five to 10 days for disrupting public order, the bureau said.

Previously, passengers in disputes with subway security officers were usually released after being lectured.

Beijing started to check subway passengers at the end of June 2008 to ensure a safe Olympic Games. During the Games, each bag taken into the subway had to be checked. But the rule was loosened after the Games and bags were only randomly checked.

However, as the city is beefing up security to ensure a smooth celebration of the country's 60th anniversary, checks are again being done on all subway passengers and their bags, said Zhang Jinghan, a senior officer with the public transportation department of the city's police bureau.

Some busy stations have been equipped with portable scanners and liquid testing machines as well, he said.

Police figures show that so far this year subway security officers have had 36 disputes with passengers. About 90 percent of the disputes were triggered by passengers' refusal to be checked. The rest were for improper manners and behavior with security officers, Zhang Huiqun said.

Subway security officers are considering rapid checks for small bags, which means such bags won't have to go through X-ray machines, Zhang Jinghan said.

However, because of the huge passenger flow, passengers with small bags, such as waist packs, can actually escape security checks even now, according to visual checks by China Daily in the past few days.

Beijing subways carry an average of 4 million passengers every day, according to figures from subway authorities.

Questions:

1. What subway station did the three people refuse the security check at?

2. When did Beijing begin security checks at city subway stations?

3. How many passengers use Beijing subways on average every day?

Answers:

1. Wudaokou.

2. At the end of June 2008.

3. 4 million.

（英语点津 许雅宁编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move