China — Parents seething over the earthquake-triggered collapse of school buildings that killed their children are starting to take action. The incipient protests, if they grow, could prove embarrassing for officials worried that a spotlight may be placed on shoddy construction of schools that led to the deaths of thousands of students in a May 12 earthquake. At a small stand near the Juyuan Middle School, where some 400 students were crushed in the collapse of a building, the only building to crumble in the vicinity, angry parents Wednesday gathered signatures on a petition and contemplated filing a lawsuit. "We want compensation," said Zhang Xianqin, who lost his 15-year-old son at the school. "I want justice. Why did just schools collapse in this whole area?" Parents milled about the small desk on a sidewalk, where a volunteer opened up the petition, in which more than 100 parents had affixed their signatures and red thumb prints. The petition demands punishment for officials...