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Newspaper urges CCP to soften reaction to protests

A newspaper connected to the Chinese Communist Party has urged local governments to use less force when dealing with protests.

Protests have risen sharply across China in recent years as ordinary Chinese vent anger over official corruption, a yawning rich-poor gap and land confiscations.

Governments should "restrain from using force to control protests," said the Study Times, a weekly sponsored by the Party School of the communist party's Central Committee.

Demonstrations should be resolved "through administrative and economic means instead of resorting to force, which might intensify the conflicts," it said.

The Party School is an elite training center for top party officials at the central, provincial and city level.

The newspaper's appeal for local governments and police to distinguish between a "collective appeal for help from violations of the law" comes after a protest in Hunan Province earlier this month against rising bus fares reportedly drew 20,000 area residents and prompted a harsh police crackdown in which witnesses said one person was killed.
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