Beijing police launched a two-month campaign Tuesday to step up the crackdown on criminal offenses, aiming to ensure the safety of the National Day celebrations.

This year's National Day on Oct. 1 will mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. A military parade, a fireworks display and galas will be staged.

With the campaign code-named Thunder, Beijing police will target gangs and crimes involving guns and explosives, among others, said Wang Xinyuan, political commissar of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Beijing police have cracked more than 33,000 criminal cases and captured 22,000 suspects during the first half of the year. The number of criminal cases during the period dropped by 2.8 percent year on year and the number of serious crimes, such as homicide, rape and others, reduced by 19.8 percent, according to Wang.

Theft and robbery cases have been on the decline since the Beijing Olympic Games, he added.

However, the officer said criminal cases at the fringe of the city were increasing while telephone and Internet frauds were becoming serious.

Beijing police chief Ma Zhenchuan said last week that 220,000 security guards and 300,000 community volunteers in Beijing will be deployed for security duties for the Oct. 1 National Day ceremony this year.

In other news, the Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks announced Tuesday that as part of the National Day celebrations, 2.2 million potted flowers would be used to decorate parks in the city.

Zhu Yingzi, an official with the administration center, said the arrangement of the flowers would start at the beginning of September and conclude on Sept. 26.

(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2009)