EXECUTIONS MARK ANTI-DRUG DAY

BEIJING - China marked a U.N. anti-drug day Tuesday by burning
narcotics, staging rallies nationwide and executing dozens of people
for drug crimes.

Chinese authorities have executed hundreds of people since April in a
crime crackdown labeled "Strike Hard" that allows for speeded-up
trials and broader use of the death penalty.

Thousands of people attended a rally at a stadium in Kunming, capital
of southwestern Yunnan province, where 20 suspected drug traffickers
were sentenced to death, then executed at a separate location, a
police official said. Executions are usually done by a gunshot to the
head.

Officials in Kunming used remote control detonators to ignite 2 tons
of confiscated heroin placed in large metal pans and doused with gasoline.

European Union diplomats in Beijing, monitoring reports in Chinese
state-run media, have tallied more than 1,000 executions and many more
death sentences in the crackdown on violent and gang-related crime.