Law applies to chengguan

THAT 72 ROADSIDE STALLS SELLING NEWSPAPERS and magazines were demolished overnight in Chaoyang district of Beijing a week ago suggests the lack of the sense about the rule of law on the part of the district's chengguan, government-operated urban patrol officers in charge of neighborhood order in cities and towns.

All the newsstands have business licenses issued by the local administration for industry and commerce. Had the chengguan officers had the least respect for the law, they should have known that they were violating it by demolishing the licensed newspaper stalls.

If the kiosks had indeed become eyesores, even though some of the 72 demolished stalls have stood where they were for more than 10 years, a legal procedure is needed for their removal and relocation. The chengguan department needs to get the administrators for industry and commerce to revoke the stalls' business licenses with a justified reason.