Dozens of mainly foreign residents of Beijing dressed up as Santa Claus as part of a worldwide weekend costume parade got a lump of coal in their Christmas stockings -- ejection from Tiananmen Square.
The group was taking part in Saturday's SantaCon -- a worldwide event that sees people don Santa's familiar red suit and white-brimmed hat and make merry in cities around the world including the Chinese capital, two revellers said.
About four hours into the day-long event, which in Beijing takes the form of a pub crawl, dozens of revellers entered Tiananmen Square -- the scene of mass pro-democracy protests in 1989 that ended in a bloody army crackdown.
As they gathered for a photo, police intervened, the participants said.
"You are causing a social disturbance -- leave the square now," one partygoer, who asked not to be identified, quoted a police officer as saying to the group.
"If you want to visit Tiananmen, come in the appropriate way."
Another participant told AFP: "Everyone just dispersed really quickly in an effort not to get into trouble. The cops did follow us out, but the party moved on and there were no problems."
What is the appropriate way of visiting Tienanmen Square? With flowers for the great butcher Mao?
They kicked out Santa. I'm surprised they didn't boycott his Nobel Prize appearance.
2 comments:
I don't want products made in that country to be on shelves in stores where I might want to shop.
HAROLD HECUBA
These crappy products you speak of are made for children.
Just like the people who made them.
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