While cracking down on online rumours, authorities said such behaviour will be handled seriously.
As a major political scandal rocked China, authorities today said that over 2.10 lakh online posts have been deleted and 42 websites shut since mid-March in a massive crackdown on the 300 million-strong microbloggers in the country in the wake of coup "rumours".
The announcement came hours after over 10,000 people protested in south-western Chinese city of Chongqing, the base of the purged charismatic Communist party leader Bo Xilai, with the authorities claiming that the demonstration had nothing to do with his axing.
Police fired tear gas shells to "disperse the protesters".
Bo's wife had also been detained on suspicion of murder as one of the biggest political crises gripped the country.
While cracking down on online rumours, authorities said such behaviour will be handled seriously.
"Actions of creating and spreading rumours via the Internet disrupt public order and undermine social stability, and will never be tolerated," Liu Zhengrong, a senior official with the State Internet Information Office (SIIO), said.
Rumourmongers will be held accountable in accordance with the law, he said, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.
To stop rumours from being disseminated via microblogging service websites, Liu said both government agencies and the internet service providers should play an appropriate role, while Internet users themselves should remain vigilant against rumours and report them to the authorities in a timely manner.
The crackdown intensified since last month after rumours floated on the microblog media about an impending coup with post-dated pictures of army tanks moving on the streets of Beijing speculating a factional fighting with the ruling Communist Party.
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