BEIJING (AFP) -- China will train its judges on handling a rising tide of social unrest across the country, state media reported Wednesday, in the latest sign of official unease over the issue.

A total of 235 judges from intermediate and lower-level courts nationwide will receive the training, which began this week, according to a report in the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's main mouthpiece.
The government has signaled increasing alarm over social unrest following a spate of violent incidents over the past two years, including deadly riots in Tibet last year and in the mainly Muslim Xinjiang region in July.
Last week, China's legislature passed a law that tasks the People's Armed Police, the main domestic security force, with putting down the periodic explosions of often violent unrest -- officially known as “mass incidents”.
“The training's special focus will be how to face emergency incidents and mass incidents,” said the newspaper's report, which also was posted on the website of the Supreme People's Court, China's highest court.
Besides ethnic unrest, China sees tens of thousands of “mass incidents,” often stemming from public anger about illegal land seizures or evictions of villagers by local officials making way for development.
China also has warned that bankruptcies sparked by the economic slowdown and resulting layoffs could trigger further unrest.
“Currently, mass incidents related to such issues as housing demolition, relocation of citizens, land expropriation and business bankruptcies are increasing, and addressing them is difficult,” the report said, in justifying the training.
The training also would deal with “how to handle public opinion and the news media,” it said.
Public unrest is often touched off by court rulings seen as protecting powerful and well-connected parties involved in legal disputes.
The report offered no further specifics on the training, which it said would be carried out in stages over the coming year.