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BEIJING, Nov 19 (Reuters) China has urged police to ensure social stability amid the global financial crisis after thousands rioted in a northwestern city against a resettlement scheme, beating up police and looting offices.
Communist China, used to decades of solid economic growth, is battling an unknown as falling demand for its products triggers the closure of factories, sparking protests by laid-off workers and raising fears of wider popular unrest.
Thousands of people mobbed a government office in Longnan city, Gansu province, on Monday, torching cars and looting office equipment in a riot sparked by a government scheme to resettle residents, state media reported.
Unrest flared again yesterday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Officials contacted at the Longnan government offices refused to comment.
Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu said police ''should be fully aware of the challenge brought by the global financial crisis and try their best to maintain social stability'', the China Daily quoted him as saying.
''You should let the people know the authority and dignity of the law and meanwhile make them feel the care and warmth from public security authorities,'' Meng said.
Gansu provincial authorities had despatched an emergency security force to maintain order in Longnan and ordered main streets to close and television stations to let ''the masses understand the true situation''.
Footage carried on Youtube showed riot police struggling to restore order on city streets while being pelted with stones, while pictures on Chinese web portals showed columns of armed riot police sheltering beneath a phalanx of shields.
The Longnan rioting follows a number of strikes by taxi drivers and labour protests in the country's major export regions, where thousands of factories have closed in recent months.
Taxi drivers went on strike in three Chinese cities in recent weeks, complaining of high rental fees and competition from unlicensed taxis. Drivers in Sanya, a resort city on the southern province of Hainan, blockaded government offices.
Workers at a diesel plant in Jiangyan city, eastern Jiangsu province, last week blocked local highways and surrounded government offices amid concerns over job security.
And hundreds rallied on the streets of a city in southern Guangdong province, demanding unpaid wages from a shuttered toy maker.
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