As Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, approaches, China's public security authorities are increasing police presence on the streets.

Police have increased patrols in public areas and "the maximum number of police officers will be sent out to the streets and communities," Wu Heping, spokesman of the Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.

Wu said police were also tightening traffic and fire checks to prevent accidents during the Spring Festival.

As the holiday season often involves mass shopping sprees, police have also tightened patrols around banks to prevent possible robbery and theft, Wu said.

During last year's Spring Festival, police across the country handled 6,057 firework-related incidents. Public security departments nationwide set up more than 2,700 inspection stations to examine passenger vehicles and handled 5.5 million breaches of transportation rules.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2007)