Stalking, tattoos among new crimes to figure in Chinese police crackdown on soft violence

Stalking, throwing feces, restricting personal freedom and showing tattoos are among the crimes categorised as new "soft violence," by Chinese police as they launched nation crackdown against organised crime.

The move comes as many mafia-style gangs in China have deliberately turned to "soft violence" instead of downright violent criminal behaviour amid the nationwide campaign against organised crime, the officials said.

"Soft violence" has long troubled law enforcement personnel at the basic level as no regulation clarifies what this behaviour is or tells them how to deal with it, Du Hangwei, vice minister of Public Security told state-run Global Times.

The "public security bureaus should implement the new regulations carefully," he said.

Revealing personal information, damaging property, home invasions, setting off firecrackers, playing funeral music or placing wreaths to threaten others, are also considered "soft violence," the daily quoted the official as saying.

Groups of people that try to threaten others by organised behaviour's, including wearing the same clothing or showing off tattoos or special slogans will be treated as mafia-style gangs, it said.

The clarification of "soft violence" indicates that the campaign will be more specific, Zhi Zhenfeng, a legal expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told the daily, noting that the specific legal standards will be enacted soon in accordance with laws.

The campaign against organised crime started in January 2018 and is expected to last three years. It has entered a critical year in 2019, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Zhi warned that even though the campaign has made some progress, uprooting the "protective umbrellas" of organised crime will continue to be the fundamental mission of the campaign.

Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Chongqing Municipal Committee, said the campaign relates to various fields of society, including companies, village gangs and even college campuses.