China reinvigorates campaign against violent, ‘mafia-like’ crimes

THE People’s Republic of China has launched a 100-days campaign to curb violent and ‘mafia-like’ crimes and their protectors after a violent attack against four women at a barbeque stall in Tangshan City, Hebei province last June 10, 2022, sparked indignations in Chinese social media, according to a report by Global Times.

The campaign against “illegal behavior” is on top of a 3-year anti-criminality campaign launched by China from 2018 to 2021 that had resulted to the arrest and indictment of 230,000 engaged in “mafia-like gangs” and other crimes and, 2,987 people who acted as their “protectors.”

Local public security authorities have been supporting the 100-day campaign and 5,010 criminals have already been caught in Central China’s Henan, while 693 suspects were arrested in Hebei.

The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on July 17, 2022 also reported that thus far, 72,000 suspects have been arrested since the start of a 100-day national campaign on June 25, 2022.

Experts noted that despite the challenges and complexity of wiping out gang crime, the 100-day national campaign will definitely enhance the public’s sense of security and improve the social security situation, the Global Times reported further.

Among those neutralized and executed were ‘mafia-like alliance head,’ Sun Xiaoguo, who was executed in 2020 for rape and intentional assault and repeated escapes from punishment since the 1990s and, Du Shaoping, for a killing a boy in 2004 and burying the body under a school sports compound in Hunan province.

Their protectors, government officials who helped them evade penalties and investigations for a long time, have all been punished as well, the report added.

At a mobilization meeting on June 25, the MPS stressed the need to strengthen the allocation of police forces on streets, communities and patrols at night, so as to safeguard society security and guarantee the public wellbeing.

The MPS said illegal behaviors that infringe on rights of children and women will be given extra attention. It urges public security organs to take a zero-tolerance policy in eliminating organized gang crimes and punishing their protection umbrellas.

Ever since the brutal assault at a Tangshan restaurant on June 10, special campaigns on inspecting potential crimes at night markets, shopping malls and barbecue stalls have also sprung up in multiple cities including Baoding, Qinhuangdao in Hebei, Pingyao in North China’s Shanxi Province, and others in Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Gansu Province.