New | Long queues facing commuters as Beijing heightens anti-terror measures

Beijing subjected rush-hour passengers to an extra layer of security checks and gave orders allowing SWAT teams to shoot terrorists on sight, as it ramped up policing after a string of attacks on the mainland.

This morning, hundreds of passengers queued up in security lines outside nine key subway stations in Beijing, where metro staff were waiting with body-scanning equipment. This marks the second working day since the extra layer of security was put in place last Saturday.

Previously, only bags and luggages were subjected to scans. 

Photos taken at rush hour on Tuesday morning at one subway station in northern Beijing showed long-winding queues around crowd barriers, stretching as far as a few hundred metres.

The new measures exacerbated the long waiting times and queues for subway passengers, especially for those living on the outskirts of Beijing who are heavily reliant on the transportation allowing them to commute from home to their offices downtown.

What’s more, the scenes, described by some as “people in a cage”, prompted some to express concerns of the large crowds being hazardous or vulnerable to potential terrorist attacks.