"Harmonious" China says number of riots down

BEIJING, Nov 7 (Reuters) The number of Chinese protests and riots fell by over a fifth in the first nine months of 2006, a senior official said, as the ruling Communist Party seeks to quell discontent and promote a ''harmonious society''.

Police dealt with 17,900 ''mass incidents'' from January to September, a vice minister of China's Ministry of Public Security, Liu Jinguo, told a police meeting yesterday, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

This was a drop of 22.1 percent on the number of protests, riots, mass petitions and other ''mass incidents'' in the corresponding months of last year, Liu said. The Xinhua Web site (www.xinhuanet.com) carried a transcript of his remarks today.

Altogether, 385,000 people took part in the incidents, Liu said -- meaning that on average each had about 22 people taking part. He also noted falls in violent crime and theft.

China's leaders are mounting a long campaign to bolster brittle social stability by raising the welfare and incomes of China's poor farmers and migrant workers, and by cracking down on dissidents and disgruntled citizens.

But officials have warned the countryside remains far from tranquil, as hundreds of millions of poor farmers seek a foothold in the nation's newfound wealth, protesting over the loss of farmland, corruption and sickening pollution.

''Overall, public safety in rural regions across the country is stable, but the basis for that stability is not solid,'' said Liu, warning that unapproved religious groups were spreading and gaining influence.

In January, China put the total number of ''public order disturbances, obstructions of justice, gathering of mobs and stirring up of trouble'' -- a broader category than mass incidents -- at 87,000 last year, up 6.6 percent from 2004.

Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang told the Monday meeting that defusing rural unrest was a priority.

''Vigorously resolve prominent problems in public order and social stability,'' he told police, according to Xinhua. ''Ensure and protect rural social harmony and stability.'' Last month, Zhou briefed President Hu Jintao on recent unrest following riots on several campuses over the status of diplomas, sources told Reuters.

Thousands of students from two college in the southern province of Jiangxi protested and rioted in late October, overturning cars, smashing windows and setting fire to buildings.

REUTERS BDP VC0922