Police run foul of law in mainland crackdown

Mainland police have been ordered not to shame prostitutes and their clients in the street or make public their personal information after similar conduct in the provinces of Guangdong and Hubei outraged the country.

The Ministry of Public Security notice issued to regional bureaus said police should stop humiliating prostitutes and their clients, including parading them through the streets, as had happened in Dongguan, and Wuhan recently.

'[Street parades] seriously violate the country's laws and regulations ... Regional police should rectify their barbaric ways during law enforcement ... Policemen should fully respect and protect suspects' human rights during crackdowns on prostitution,' the ministry said.

An unprecedented crackdown on prostitution across the country, which was launched last month, shut down thousands of small brothels, bathhouses and nightclubs. The Hilton Hotel in Chongqing was shut down over prostitution and organised crime allegations, and its top shareholder, Peng Zhimin, was arrested last week.

In Dongguan, state media published photos showing two young prostitutes and their clients, all barefoot, handcuffed and held by ropes in a parade through streets in Qingxi town early this month. In Wuhan, a police station published the names and ages of detained prostitutes and their clients on big-character posters all over the community, including the punishment they had received.

But an angry public lashed back, accusing authorities of acting as if the Cultural Revolution had never ended after the photos of both incidents had circulated online.