The Chinese regime has launched a police crackdown on Chinese citizens who have started celebrating Halloween in Shanghai since last weekend.
Observers say the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) views such large public gatherings as threats and further suppresses freedom of expression, especially after last year’s celebration became a public outlet for criticism of the Party.
Many videos on Chinese social media show many young people dressed in costumes celebrating in the streets and parks of Shanghai on Oct. 26 and Oct. 27, with some shouting “freedom.” Other video footage shows individuals dressed up as the Buddha, Spiderman, and former President Donald Trump, among others, being escorted into police vans.
One video shows a young woman wearing a Statue of Liberty costume chanting “freedom” with the crowd cheering. The video footage garnered many replies showing “support for freedom.”
During the weekend, there was a significant police presence throughout the city, which involved forcibly dispersing and arresting young people in cosplay. On the night of Oct. 26, many people moved between various parks, such as from Zhongshan Park to Joy City, to evade the police while voicing their desire for freedom and opposition to the authorities. They were eventually removed from the parks by the police.
Some individuals revealed on social media that after being taken to the police station, they were asked to remove their costumes. Those who refused were warned that they would be taken to the public security bureau for further detention.
Several universities in Shanghai have notified students to not participate in Halloween gatherings, especially not to cosplay on Julu Road and Changle Road.
According to posts on Chinese social media, an internal notice allegedly issued by the Huangpu District Sub-district Office warns that any form of Halloween costumes, especially cosplay and makeup with horror and violent elements, are strictly prohibited in the district this year. Once “illegal costumes or related activities” are found, the police will take necessary actions, according to the notice.
The police were also targeting cosplayers in Guangzhou, a major city in southern China, on Oct. 27, ordering them to take off costumes, as shown in video footage on social media.
Police officers keep watch near barricades set up along Julu Road, where people in Halloween costumes gathered the year before, in Shanghai on Oct. 26, 2024. (Nicoco Chan/Reuters)
Ms. Xu, a resident of Shanghai who preferred to use a pseudonym, told The Epoch Times on Oct. 28 that the streets were filled with plainclothes police, creating a very tense atmosphere in the city.
“I heard that colleges and universities don’t allow students to leave campus. Ordinary people are just expressing their own ideas. The CCP authorities have guns and weapons in their hands. What can ordinary people do? The CCP has too much control.”
Wu Shaoping, a human rights lawyer currently residing in the United States and who once practiced law in Shanghai, told The Epoch Times that these young people are demonstrating their political demands through such gatherings, with some costumes representing prominent Western figures.
“The whole society is being suppressed. If a creative spark resonates with everyone, these young people might express their dissatisfaction with the Chinese communist regime more intensely. I think this is what the CCP is afraid of now,” Wu said.
People dressed up in costume for Halloween in Shanghai, China, on Oct. 31, 2023.
At the end of 2022, many young people took to the streets in what is known as the “white paper revolution,” which pushed the CCP to lift the three-year draconian COVID-19 lockdown policy.
Last year, many people wore Halloween costumes to mock the CCP authorities. Some donned models of surveillance cameras on their heads, referencing the CCP’s widespread surveillance system. Others dressed as Winnie the Pooh and as an emperor on tour, which alluded to CCP leader Xi Jinping.
Ni Haizhong, Yi Ru, and Luo Ya contributed to this report.
