The rights and interests of all parties should be considered when making laws for urban management, says a signed article in China Youth Daily. An excerpt follows:
As violent conflicts have frequently occurred between peddlers and urban management police, many deputies of the People's Congress in Beijing recently called for legislation to protect urban management law enforcers.
Frankly, there are no clear, strict legal documents on the limits of power or law enforcement basis for urban management. Legislation to protect and regulate urban management is necessary and imminent.
But securing peddlers' living environment is an even more urgent need.
First, our urban planning is not rational enough. Peddlers were deprived of a place to make a living.
At present, support facilities for urban community services are not sufficient. For maximum profit, real estate developers change the use of land that should be used to build such facilities, often with a wink from urban planning departments. Individual peddlers have difficulty finding a suitable place to earn a living in the cities. If every city can provide a place for these peddlers' legal business, the tension between urban management officers and peddlers will be much relieved.
Second, the existence of peddlers has met the demands of the urban poor. Different residents have different consumption levels, and the gap is growing.
Not everyone can afford to shop in large supermarkets and department stores. Especially when the community facilities are not sufficient, some urban poor people very much need those peddlers who can provide cheap commodities and services. At the same time, some laid-off workers who are not well-educated and lack special skills will join the ranks of peddlers. Peddlers and residents in bad economic conditions have formed a relationship of mutual benefit.
When the urban management officers punished those peddlers, did they consider that the peddlers are also providing services to society? When those people's deputies call for laws to protect urban management staff, they should also realize that the peddlers' businesses are also their rights and the public's needs.
Last but not least, some urban management officers' bad conduct has contributed to the intensified relations. There are many cases of peddlers fighting against law enforcement, but cases of violent law enforcement are not rare either. Last week, several urban management officers beat a female peddler selling breakfast in the street of Guangzhou. Though this peddler had occupied a public road and damaged urban environmental hygiene, how can we treat a disadvantaged social member who can hardly make a living like this?
When calling for legislation to protect the rights and interests of urban management police, we should also think of those peddlers. When the economy is not that developed, it is more important to protect the rights and interests of people at a disadvantage.
(China Daily 08/23/2006 page4)
