China’s spooky shutdown: Police ghost Halloween festivities in Shanghai, boo-ting out merrymakers

CHINA: Known as one of the most liberal places in China and a cultural hub, it appears Shanghai is not what it used to be as police crackdown on cultural and public gatherings in the city.

According to a BBC report, police were seen getting rid of crowds of costumed merrymakers who had donned Halloween costumes on the streets of Shanghai.

Although the police have not given official notice banning Halloween celebrations, rumours of a possible crackdown on the festival were circulating online.

This was likely because last year, many Halloween revellers wore costumes mocking the Chinese government and its policies.

Some of last year’s costumes include people dressing up as giant surveillance cameras, COVID testers, and censored Weibo posts.

This year, however, people wore non-controversial outfits such as comic book characters like Batman and Deadpool, yet they were still escorted out into police vans.

So, no one is clear on what sort of costume the police have been targeting.

The incident occurred on Julu Road in downtown Shanghai, where a large number of police officers and police cars appeared, asking people dressed up in various costumes to leave the scene.

Shanghai police will arrest any cosplayer celebrating Halloween appearing in public within 30 secs pic.twitter.com/bHKUBHapke

— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) October 27, 2024

One Shanghai local told the BBC, “Every time someone new showed up on the scene, everyone would go, ‘Wow, that’s cool and laugh. Policemen were on the sidelines, but I felt they also wanted to watch.”

The eyewitness said that, however, around 10 pm, a new group of policemen arrived and began cordoning off the park.

“We were told to remove our headgear as we left the park. We were told everyone leaving from that exit could not be costumed.”

According to another resident, the number of police officers in the park outnumbered the number of merrymakers. The police officers were taking down the personal details of every person dressed in a costume.

“Shanghai is not supposed to be like this. It has always been very tolerant,” said the Shanghai resident.