FOLLOWING a citywide action against drink driving, police are targeting another common habit: smoking.
As part of a national fire prevention campaign, the city fire department under the public security bureau restated Monday the penalties for smoking in fire hazard areas after a 56-year-old man was detained for smoking in a wholesale market in Chongqing on Saturday.
“Shenzhen residents who smoke in areas considered to be a fire hazard area could be detained for five days,” said a fire department official surnamed Zhu. “The five-day detention is not new. It’s laid down in the fire protection law, although nobody had previously been detained for breaking the law.”
According to the fire protection law, people who smoke in fire hazard areas are subject to a verbal warning, a fine of up to 500 yuan (US$73) or detention of no longer than five days.
The department has started inspecting places at high risk of fire throughout the city. It found few people smoke at department stores and supermarkets but some smoke in Internet cafes and wholesale markets.
No one in Shenzhen had yet been detained for violating the law, Zhu said.
Zhu reminded smokers to make sure they were not in a no-smoking area before lighting up and encouraged residents to take photos, keep cigarette ends and report violators to police.
Song Liangyi, a member of the city’s top political advisory body who proposed a ban on smoking in all public places last year, hailed the new move as exciting.
“It shows the country has made huge progress in banning smoking,” Song said.
However, public opinion appeared to be evenly divided, according to a poll conducted by the Southern Metropolis Daily. Of the people who responded, 50 percent agreed “the punishment is too harsh,” while 45 percent said they supported the penalties. (Liu Minxia)