Capital's security checks rival Olympics efforts
Beijing has stepped up security checks and traffic control to head off any potential threats to the two important political meetings that start this week in the capital.
The security precautions rival those in place for the Beijing Olympics last summer, and about 600,000 volunteers will be deployed to help monitor major city venues, according to the Beijing Daily, the municipal government's official newspaper.
Police set up three layers of checkpoints around Beijing to check all vehicles and passengers heading into the city. Plain-clothes officers would also monitor many sensitive areas to ensure an immediate response to protests or accidents.
To reinforce Beijing's efforts, Hebei police would start checking vehicles going into Beijing as early as Thursday, and people without proper documentation would be stopped from entering the capital, China News Service reported.
'We will try to prevent all unstable factors from entering Beijing,' a Hebei police spokesman said.
Motorist Fu Shouxin, a frequent traveller between Beijing and Zhangjiakou in Hebei, said security checks on the Hebei side were very tight last weekend.
'They really took it seriously. I saw people being ordered to head back because they forgot to bring their ID cards,' Mr Fu said.
He said a police officer checked his driving licence and the identity cards of all four passengers in his car. Police also checked all the bags and boxes in the boot. Security measures are ratcheted up each year as the mainland's top legislative body, the National People's Congress, and its advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, hold their annual meetings, usually in early March.
But the security challenges appear particularly acute this year with the 50th anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule coming next Tuesday.
Many officials fear that the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic will also invite protests or other problems. The concerns seemed justified last week, when two separate protests were observed in downtown Beijing.
A couple tried to torch themselves inside a car in the Wangfujing shopping area on Wednesday. A protester then scaled a traffic sign the following day as the international media watched.
During a tour of delegates' hotels late last week, Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong told the city's public security officials to have 'a strong sense of political responsibility' in their efforts to safeguard the meetings, the Beijing Daily reported.
'We must make sure nothing wrong happens during either meeting,' Mr Guo said.
Beijing has also imposed temporary traffic controls during rush hours to ensure delegates do not experience the headache of the city's notorious traffic jams. Beijing drivers were urged to stay away from meeting venues and to consider not driving altogether during the next 10 to 12 days.
