A township Communist Party Committee secretary in Shandong warned petitioners that there are a hundred ways to “criminalize” them. The county government head of a certain county in Henan Province was even more aggressive in shouting that those who maliciously return home during the Spring Festival should be isolated and detained.
All of the above, how I wish it was just isolated instances but unfortunately they are not. The township party secretary, who claimed to have a hundred ways to “criminalize” petitioners, must not think what she said was wrong; she only blamed herself for being politically naive and said what they had been doing and for her statement to be accidentally recorded. Indeed, her words reflected reality. Criminal law is full of means to deal with petitioners, including the crime of provocation, extortion and blackmail, as well as the crime of disturbing the working order of state organs. All these pretexts are commonly used in practice.