A villager in Panjin, Liaoning Province, was shot to death by a local policeman who came to maintain order in a dispute caused by land compensation on September 21.

According to the locally-run investigation, the policeman had to fire at the villager after his life was threatened. The incident has induced another round of reflection on forced demolition.

The official statement said that the policeman had every reason to shoot in self-defense, as it was a case of violently interfering with police duties. But due to netizens' experience with previous tragedies caused by forced demolition, the official information cannot dispel their suspicions.

Demolition has increasingly become an outstanding challenge for China in  building a rule of law. The Supreme People's Court has emphasized that coercive methods should be carefully used in demolition, that once there are extreme actions such as suicide and threats, the demolition should be stopped and that the security of the people involved should come first.

Therefore, the police should manage and mediate the demolition conflicts rather than getting involved in them directly. Avoiding direct clash between the police and public could reduce the possibility of social conflicts escalating and causing controversies.

Demolition doesn't necessarily lead to conflicts. The government has issued many concrete and detailed laws and regulations to safeguard the interests of the relocated households and ensure they could get fair compensation.

But in reality, especially at the grass-roots level, the prohibitions cannot be effectively carried out due to the constraints of various interests. Some law-enforcement officers even hold that local policy is above the law, and care more about their own performance assessments than the public good.

The demolition conflicts highlight the complexity and difficulty of building the rule of law. Preventing tragedies caused by demolition needs a comprehensive solution. The authority of the law should be stressed and the Property Law should be carefully fulfilled to protect the public's legal interests.

The local governments should develop a proper view of development. Development can only be accomplished within a legal framework, and the final goal should be the well-being of the people, without which any development is meaningless.

With information transparency as a prerequisite, ordinary people also need to come to a fair judgment, rather than simply focusing on individual interests.

The author is deputy director of the Law School of China University of Political Science and Law. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn