Chinese police told to 'put public first'

Chinese media has criticised local officials in the country's south for letting a protest about land seizures get out of hand and urged authorities around the country to "put the public first".

Residents of Wukan village in Guangdong province lived under police blockade for more than a week after driving out local Communist party leaders they say have been stealing their land for years.

The stand-off ended on Wednesday after provincial authorities held talks with the villagers and agreed to investigate their complaints, free three detained residents and release the body of another who died in police custody.

The People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist party, said local authorities had erred by failing to "heed the reasonable demands of villagers" which had allowed a "reasonable petition to escalate into excessive actions".

The newspaper's commentary, however, heaped praise on the later efforts of the provincial authorities whose "full acknowledgement that most of the people's demands were reasonable" had helped to resolve the crisis.

An editorial in the Global Times called on local governments around China to "take every quarrel from the people seriously and show a responsible attitude towards people's demands", saying such disputes were likely to increase.

"Putting the public first and helping them fulfil reasonable interests should be the aim of local government officials," the newspaper said.

The decision to send senior provincial leaders to deal with a village dispute signals the level of concern in Guangdong over the rare revolt in Wukan, which made world headlines.

It came as a protest in the town of Haimen, also in Guangdong, turned violent for a second straight day on Wednesday when police fired tear-gas and beat residents protesting against a power plant they say is a health hazard.

Officials overseeing Haimen said in a statement late on Tuesday they would suspend the power station project and refer the case to "supervisory authorities".

But protesters were either unaware of the suspension or sceptical about the government's intentions and have continued to take to the streets.

China's Communist party is preparing for a once-in-a-decade transition of power that begins next year, and leaders are eager to keep a lid on social unrest which they admit poses a major threat to their hold on power.

The People's Daily commentary indicates the protest may not jeopardise the expected promotion next year of Guangdong's reformist Communist party secretary, Wang Yang, to the national Standing Committee.

Source: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8393869/chinese-police-told-to-put-public-first

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