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China security chief urges listening to the masses
30 Jun 2005 03:25:22 GMT
Source: Reuters
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BEIJING, June 30 (Reuters) - Chinese authorities should better handle complaints from the people, state media quoted the country's security chief as saying after a string of violent riots that caused concern in Beijing. Luo Gan, the politburo member who oversees crime and punishment, also urged better law enforcement. "We should enhance both our determination and activities so as to more effectively solve the problems in law enforcement that have aroused complaints from the masses," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Luo as saying in an overnight report. In the latest riot on Sunday, in the poor eastern province of Anhui, armed police who tried to quell the disturbance were driven back by rocks and firecrackers. Later, power to the police station was cut and fireworks thrown inside. Protests are becoming increasingly common in China, fuelled by corruption and a growing gap between rich and poor, but such brazen attacks on authority are bound to worry a leadership bent on maintaining stability in the vast country of 1.3 billion. In another riot in the western municipality of Chongqing last October, thousands took to the streets burning police cars and looting government buildings after a man passed himself off as an official during a quarrel between residents, enraging bystanders with the attempted abuse of power. In a land dispute in suburban Beijing earlier this month, a mob of residents pushed and shoved police who tried to stop journalists from covering the story. Luo, part of the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee that rules China, also urged "rectification work" against misdeeds in law enforcement. "Their power should be used in a standardised and orderly way," Luo was quoted as saying at a national conference, adding problems that sparked widespread concern should be given priority. In April, She Xianglin was freed after serving 11 years for murdering his wife, who turned up alive. The case was widely reported and spurred a campaign to crackdown on the police practice of forcing confessions through torture. Earlier this month, the children of a Chinese butcher executed for murdering a waitress appealed against his conviction after his "victim' was also found alive.
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