Developers must be made to obey the law when demolishing homes

A 60-YEAR-OLD WOMAN IN CHANGSHA, Central China's Hunan province, was reportedly buried alive when the local authorities forcibly demolished her home. Local officials repeatedly turn a blind eye to the law when it comes to forced demolitions, says Beijing News:

Forced demolitions have been a scourge for more than 10 years, and there have been frequent reports of developers hiring "unidentified people dressed in uniforms" to demolish residents' houses and seize the land. The police never intervene when the residents call for help, and those doing the forced demolitions are seldom punished, even when residents lose their lives in such incidents.

We thought the situation might change when the top leadership vowed to introduce the rule of law, but one case after another has proved that hope to be in vain. For local governments and realty developers, the law that protects citizens' property rights is nothing but a piece of paper.