Those who threaten residents during forced demolitions undermine law

People watch a house being demolished in Wenling cityk, Zhejiang province, after its owner reached an agreement with the local government. [Phot provided to China Daily]

"Do not act like a mouse by being disobedient to the demolishers." Those were the words on a poster hung by officials in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, who wanted to demolish some houses. When will officials get rid of the habit of humiliating residents and treating them as enemies, China Youth Daily asks:

Comparing somebody to a mouse is a humiliation in China, so people seldom do that. Yet the officials of Xi'an did. Their deeds show how aggressive they are and what an antagonistic attitude they hold toward people who are unwilling to move.

The officials have damaged the reputation of the residents, which is illegal. How could the local government hire these employees that have little sense of the law?

A worse and more saddening fact is that the officials of Xi'an are not alone.

In Suihua in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, an official is reported to have told residents "I have no idea what the property law is" when overseeing the forced demolition of their houses.

In Dongning in the same province, officials even openly said: "You are acting like hitting a rock with an egg, do not try to disobey!"

The central authorities have long been prohibiting the forced demolitions of residential houses, yet they still occur. It is such officials who have no respect for the law that are the problem. The top leadership has promised to introduce rule of law in this society; yet if the officials do not care about the law, how can rule of law become reality?

By threatening the residents whose houses are to be demolished, the officials are posing a threat to the whole nation. For them, the law is nothing but a scrap of paper, and they dare attack anybody in the name of the State.

This not only violates the rights of the people, but also damages the reputation of the government. The central leadership must intervene before people's trust in the government totally perishes.