'High-risk' exiles flood Dongguan
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Police in Dongguan, Guangdong Province felt pressure from "high-risk people," recently expelled from Shenzhen for potentially threatening the upcoming 2011 Summer Universiade, as Dongguan residents voiced concerns over their impact on public security.
During a microblog chat with residents Tuesday, police in Dongguan admitted that those thrown out of Shenzhen for "posing a potential risk to society" had migrated to Dongguan.
In response to complaints of deteriorating public security in the city, Dongguan police have acknowledged these new pressures and outlined measures to cope with them, the Guangzhou Daily reported.
A press officer from the Dongguan Security Bureau told the Global Times that no discontent had been expressed over Shenzhen's decision to evict possible troublemakers.
"We have not noticed an increase in criminal cases compared with the same period of last year. Meanwhile, we are actively cooperating with Shenzhen authorities to eliminate social disturbance and to safeguard the Universiade," he said on condition of anonymity.
Despite police reassurances, the web has been rife with reports of increasing robberies and rapes in Dongguan, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
The newspaper quoted an anonymous police source as saying that the daily number of criminal cases had gone up from 20 to 30 in Dongguan, and that some were traced to people having left Shenzhen.
In a special 100-day crackdown aimed at improving security ahead of the Universiade, Shenzhen authorities evicted more than 80,000 people, the New Express Daily reported in April.
"The difficulty of security work for the Shenzhen Universiade lies in the management of those floating people, especially those who pose high risks to public security," the paper quoted Shen Shaobao, a deputy director of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, as saying.
"Those considered to be high-risk are people who sleep during the day and go out at night without stable jobs, those who use fake identity cards to rent apartments and those who live on illegal incomes," Shen explained.
Mental patients who have committed offenses or pose a potential risk to the public were also targeted, he added.
Although Shenzhen police were unclear as to where these "high-risk people" would be sent, the Southern Metropolis Daily said that they might have moved to neighboring cities such as Dongguan and Huizhou.
Through searching thousands of rented houses, entertainment venues and Internet cafes, the clampdown had led to the arrest of more than 6,000 people, with nearly 2,000 detained and some 800 drug users sent to rehab centers, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.
Wang Dawei, a professor at the Chinese People's Public Security University, told the Global Times that the intentions behind the Shenzhen campaign had been laudable, but that the way it had been executed was questionable.
"Some of those evicted have no criminal records. Their dignity and rights were compromised for the sake of the Universiade. Forcing them out without proper settlement might have caused more social problems than it solved," Wang said.
"The risks have been transported to surrounding cities, which is not good for maintaining social security in the long-term," he added.
"These people are also part of society. It is not fair to label them as 'high-risk' and kick them out when the city is embracing a big event like the Universiade," Huang Guangcai, 38, a local resident and paint seller in Dongguan, told the Global Times.
"The authorities should come up with better measures by offering help, rather than simply dumping them," Huang said, albeit adding that he had not noticed signs of worsening public order in Dongguan.
The eviction of "high-risk people" is not the only measure by the authorities to facilitate the Universiade starting August 12.
In May, the Shenzhen government announced a ban on group petitions for arrears of wages by migrant workers, which drew immediate criticism from the public before the ban was abandoned.
In April, the environmental protection bureau of Guangdong issued a notice requiring Shenzhen, Huizhou and Dongguan to prepare to restrict car access to certain areas during the Universiade.
Vehicles outside Shenzhen that do not meet emission requirements will not be allowed to enter the city during the games.
Besides, a total of 2,318 enterprises have been required to improve capacity on waste processing, mainly focusing on the treatment and control of volatile organic compounds.
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