Behind some recent sensitive social events are some groups of "petitioners" who manipulated public opinion using fake information, polluted cyberspace and disturbed the social order for their personal interests. They should be brought to justice for taking advantage of netizens' sympathy and trying to make a mockery of justice.

Some lawyers played a leading role for the petitioners' groups and thus violated the very same law they are supposed to uphold. Lawyers are socialist legal workers and major participants in and promoters of the rule of law. But some lawyers tend to "take a short cut" for personal interests and build their reputation. By doing so, they create trouble and provoke turbulence in the name of "safeguarding legal rights" or "public interests".

Such behaviors, which are deliberate violations of the law, are least expected from lawyers.

It is impossible to seek the truth by creating trouble or get a ruling by using illegal methods. Upholding and promoting the law should be the professional pursuit of lawyers. For that, lawyers have to respect the law and study legal articles and court cases, instead of adopting unlawful out-of-court means to achieve their ends.

Some lawyers incited the so-called petitioners to put pressure on the authorities and attempted to achieve their goals through illegal means. This is an affront to the law and goes against the spirit of the rule of law.

Our society has seen some problems and conflicts during key periods of reform, and admittedly some local authorities have failed to properly deal with them. How to tackle the problems? This is what responsible and professional lawyers should be delving on, rather than trying to sensationalize the problems and use them to create sensitive political events. Such attempts will not help solve the problems but create more serious problems.

To promote the rule of law in an all-round way, lawyers are obliged to help build a social environment in which problems are dealt with through legal means and methods. The failure of some to do so has prompted public security bureaus to crack down on the lawless lawyers.

The article first appeared in People's Daily on Sunday.