Chinese police are cracking down on Halloween in Shanghai, dispersing costumed crowds and taking away people who come to parks in costume for the holiday – all in an effort to “maintain good social order and a good public image.”

Although 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 celebrations, which saw costumed citizens take to the streets to poke fun with their leaders’ failed policies and strict COVID-19 measures. -19 laws.

Last year’s revelers went viral with costumes of giant surveillance cameras, Covid testers and censored social media posts – infuriating authorities who find even the slightest criticism of the Chinese Communist Party intolerable.

Shanghai – the largest and most international city in mainland China – has traditionally enjoyed a higher degree of freedom than other Chinese cities.

China observers say the crackdown signals the CCP continues to strangle the communist country’s few remaining freedoms.

This year, Shanghai revelers seemed to stick to more traditional Halloween costumes, but even then police appeared to target some individuals while leaving others alone.

A man dressed as a skeleton in the Jing An entertainment district on Friday evening was detained and escorted to a police building, where he was told to remove his make-up.

A Jing An bar and restaurant owner said local officials came to him and others before the weekend celebrations and asked him to sign a pledge that he would not host costume parties at their businesses.

The pledge asserted that the district wanted to “maintain good social order and a good image,” the owner said.

Jing An police and officials in Shanghai have yet to make a statement on the weekend crackdown.

At Zhongshan Park, residents appeared to be able to party freely on Saturday evening, albeit with a police presence nearby.

However, the festivities stopped at 10 p.m., at which point police began cordoning off the park and forcing everyone to disperse, a witness told the BBC.

“When we left the park, we were told to take off all our headgear. We were told that anyone leaving through that exit was not allowed to be in costume,” the resident told the British newspaper.

“Shanghai shouldn’t be like this. It has always been very tolerant.”

Many appeared to share the sentiment on China’s popular social media site Wiebo, where one person claimed this was a sign that the government would continue to restrict public gatherings amid fears that pre-COVID protests could return.

“Even in relatively open Shanghai, the scale of freedom is constantly shrinking,” said one user.

With Postal Wires