Chinese police are cracking down on Halloween in Shanghai, dispersing costumed crowds and hauling away people who show up to parks dressed up for the holiday — all in an effort to “maintain good social order and public image.”
While there is no official ban on Halloween, many viewed the heavy enforcement on Saturday and Sunday as the government’s attempt to prevent a repeat of last year’s parties, where costumed citizens took to the streets to poke fun at their leaders’ failed policies and strict COVID-19 laws.
Last year’s revelers went viral with costumes of giant surveillance cameras, Covid testers, and censored social media posts — infuriating authorities who are intolerable to even the slightest criticism of the Chinese Communist Party.
Shanghai — mainland China’s largest and most international city — has traditionally enjoyed a higher degree of freedom than other Chinese cities.
China watchers say the crackdown is suggests that the CCP is continuing to strangle the few remaining freedoms in the Communist nation.
This year the Shanghai party-goers appeared to stick to more traditional Halloween costumes, but even then, police appeared to target some individuals while leaving others alone.
One man who was dressed as a skeleton on Friday night in the Jing An nightlife district was seen being detained and escorted to a police building, where he was told to remove his makeup.
A bar and restaurant owner in the Jing An said that before the weekend celebrations, local officials came out to him and others asking him to sign a pledge that he would not be organizing costumed parties at their businesses.
The pledge claimed that the district wanted “to maintain good social order and public image,” the owner said.
Jing An police and Shanghai officials have yet to make a statement about the crack down over the weekend.
Over by the city’s Zhongshan Park, residents appeared to be able to celebrate freely before on Saturday night, albeit with police presence nearby.
The festivities, however, were shut down by 10 p.m., where police began cordoning off the park and forcing everyone to disperse, one witness told the BBC.
“As we left the park, we were told to take off all our headgear. We were told everyone leaving from that exit could not be costumed,” the resident told the British outlet.
“Shanghai is not supposed to be like this. It has always been very tolerant.”
Many appeared to share the sentiment on China’s popular Wiebo social media site, where one person claimed it was a sign that the government would continue to limit public gatherings out of fear that the pre-COVID protests could return.
“Even in relatively open Shanghai, the scale of freedom is constantly shrinking,” one user posted.
With Post wires
