As Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, approaches,
China's public security authorities are increasing police presence
on the streets.
Police have increased patrols in public areas and "the maximum
number of police officers will be sent out to the streets and
communities," Wu Heping, spokesman of the Ministry of Public
Security said on Wednesday.
Wu said police were also tightening traffic and fire checks to
prevent accidents during the Spring Festival.
As the holiday season often involves mass shopping sprees,
police have also tightened patrols around banks to prevent possible
robbery and theft, Wu said.
During last year's Spring Festival, police across the country
handled 6,057 firework-related incidents. Public security
departments nationwide set up more than 2,700 inspection stations
to examine passenger vehicles and handled 5.5 million breaches of
transportation rules.
(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2007)