Beijing Razes Migrant Neighborhoods, Evicting Tens of Thousands<br />After that, officials hastily listed 25,395 safety hazards across the city,<br />and said they had to act fast "to prevent the tragedy recurring." The city party secretary, Cai Qi, ordered a 40-day clearance campaign to rid the city of safety hazards in migrant neighborhoods.<br />But many migrants say the government is using the fire as an excuse to ramp up efforts to drive them out<br />and ease pressures in a city whose population has already soared beyond 20 million people.<br />"If it’s demolished today, then won’t you be able to get a good night’s sleep?"<br />Initially, city leaders ignored the complaints from the displaced migrants.<br />Shi Yongxiang said that We’re all Chinese, this is our capital too, the people’s capital,<br />Zhang Guixin said that Suddenly in one night my livelihood was destroyed, as if I’d been attacked by bandits,<br />but this was done by the government saying they care for us,<br />But the city government has also spent years trying to reduce Beijing’s population of low-income migrants, using demolitions<br />and sweeping inspections of residency documents to force them out.
