Shanghai Police Action Curbs Halloween Celebrations

Police action significantly curtailed Halloween celebrations in Shanghai, an intervention widely seen as an attempt by authorities to restrict large public gatherings and freedom of expression. Eyewitnesses reported to the BBC observing police dispersing groups of costumed individuals on Shanghai’s streets, while images appearing to show arrests circulated on social media. Official sources have not yet issued a statement. Although no formal prohibition against Halloween festivities was announced, speculation about a potential crackdown began circulating online earlier this month. This situation follows a year after Shanghai Halloween participants gained widespread attention for wearing costumes that satirized the Chinese government and its policies. Images from the previous year’s Halloween gathering depicted individuals costumed as a large surveillance camera, Covid testers, and a censored Weibo post. For the current year, video shared on social media displayed individuals wearing apparently innocuous costumes, such as comic book characters like Batman and Deadpool, being directed into police vans. Certain attendees reported online that they were compelled to remove make-up at a police station. However, it is still uncertain which, if any, specific types of costumes police were targeting, given that numerous other participants were not approached. Individuals who witnessed events informed BBC Chinese that on Friday, a substantial presence of police officers and vehicles assembled on Julu Road in central Shanghai, and costumed individuals were instructed to depart the area. By Saturday, law enforcement personnel were observed dispersing participants from Zhongshan Park in the city. The BBC interviewed a Shanghai resident who was present at the park with companions that evening. “Every time someone new showed up on the scene, everyone would go, ‘Wow that’s cool’ and laugh. There were policemen on the sidelines, but I felt they also wanted to watch,” the person said. However, the celebratory atmosphere concluded around 22:00 local time (14:00 GMT) when a fresh contingent of police officers arrived and initiated cordoning off the park, as per the eyewitness account. “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 individual further stated witnessing a man confront police officers while attempting to gain entry. A different Shanghai resident commented that the quantity of police officers recording the details of costumed individuals seemed to surpass the number of participants themselves. “Shanghai is not supposed to be like this,” the person said. “It has always been very tolerant.” The BBC has sought a comment from the Shanghai police. Speculation regarding a crackdown has been present in recent days. Earlier in October, certain business proprietors operating coffeeshops, bookshops, and bars in Shanghai received official communications advising against Halloween events, as understood by the BBC. Concurrently, messages purportedly from a government work chat group circulated online, indicating a prohibition on extensive Halloween activities. The BBC was unable to authenticate these messages. Several universities issued advisories to their student bodies. A student at the esteemed Fudan University reported being recently instructed by university authorities to refrain from participating in gatherings. On Sunday evening, this student received a telephone call from a school counsellor. “They called me to ask if I had gone out, if I had taken part [in activities]. And if I did participate, I could not reveal I was a student [of the university],” the person told the BBC. The BBC has also reviewed a notice from a different Shanghai university, distributed to students in mid-October, advising them to “reduce participation in big and small gatherings in the near future”. This instance is not the initial occasion Chinese authorities have acted against fancy dress. In 2014, Beijing police stated that individuals wearing Halloween-themed costumes on the city’s metro system might be subject to arrest, asserting that such attire could lead to crowd formation and generate “trouble”. However, this year’s events occur in the context of the White Paper Protest movement, which commenced in November 2022 when substantial groups of individuals, predominantly young people, spontaneously assembled one evening on a Shanghai street to commemorate fire victims. That assembly quickly evolved into short-lived, yet widespread, demonstrations opposing the nation’s Covid policies, representing one of the most significant challenges to the Chinese government’s authority since the Tiananmen protests.