Thousands of illegal small businesses in Beijing have been shut down by a recently formed taskforce charged with protecting security ahead of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which is to be held on November 8, the Legal Daily reported on Friday.

In just 10 days, 1,594 shops that did not have appropriate certification have had their operations suspended, and 1,725 businesses were shut down, according to the report.

The closures are being led by 10 senior Beijing leaders assembled to reinforce security ahead of the meetings.

The group has already gotten involved in a number of projects such as resolving social conflicts and managing the mobile population, Ji Lin, the head of the team and the deputy secretary of the CPC Beijing committee, told the newspaper.

Since August, Beijing Public Security has been coordinating with other local authorities including the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce and the Beijing civil affairs unit.

During this period, the Beijing authorities have dealt with 33,000 criminal or security cases and have detained over 10,000 suspects. Petitioning cases have dropped by more than 12 percent compared to last month.

"While focusing on the safety of the 18th National Party Congress, we'll also make great efforts to deal with the security issues that concern local residents," Fu Zhenghua, the police chief in Beijing, told the newspaper.

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