Give up these deadly chases
The rights of city management officers shouldn't be abused to cause tragedies, says an article in the Beijing News. The following is an excerpt:
Cao Qiang, an 18-year-old boy from Hebei province, was forced to jump into a river in Beijing and died after city management officers found him handing out flyers in the street and chased him, trying to catch him.
It's a common practice for city management officers in China to chase those who have violated regulations such as owners of unlicensed stalls, street peddlers and flyer senders, resulting in one tragedy after another. Last year, a peddler in Chongqing also jumped into a river and almost died, to evade the chase by local officers.
Cao Qiang wasn't that lucky.
In fact, the peddlers and flyer senders pose little threat to the society. More importantly, the consequences of the officers chasing them would be much worse than those caused by the businesses of peddling or handing out flyers. The reasons for these people taking up such unlawful businesses are complicated, and the use of force to root out them tends to be fruitless and may even lead to unexpected results.
However, more people-oriented measures could help mitigate conflicts and contribute more to problem solving.
In the case Cao Qiang, the rights of law enforcers must be limited to prevent them from abusing their power.
(China Daily 12/04/2008 page8)
